Ezekwesili Advocates Development Of Human Capacity Development
Former Federal Minister of Education, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili has advocated for the development of human resources for Nigeria to compete favourably with other developed countries in the world.
She stated this in Lagos at the fourth Lafarge Africa national literacy competition.
“I once talked about Economics of failure in Nigeria and I expressed this through some indicators. One is our factor productivity. For example, Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is $450 billion, which is considered as the biggest in the continent, but we should have done better if we concentrate on building human resources.”
According to her, the country had for too long relied on natural resources instead of investing in human capital.
The convener of the ‘Bring Back Our Girls’ (BBOG) movement said that over 10.5 million children were out of school in 2016, saying improving the education sector does not belong to government alone, but to everyone.
Citing China as an example, she maintained that the country, in its sustained effort, attained better education through investment in human development in the last 30 years, insisting that 700 million of Chinese are out of poverty as a result.
” In Nigeria, 100 million people are in poverty even with our huge resources.
The former minister emphasised that through education, Nigeria can transit from a nation of mere population to human asset.
“Literacy level indicator of economic performance placed Nigeria at 57 percent while Rwanda is 72 percent. Nigeria should be closer to 80 per cent.
Her words: “Singapore left Nigeria in terms of GDP to the first position because it invested in human development. The better performance of a country in economy is not either in oil and gas nor agriculture, but quality education.
“We are not there yet because we have not raised human capital. Nigeria expectancy is 52 in which education is part of the indicators while the rest of the world live with 90.
“It should be in our own interest that education is available for all. The literacy level is an indicator of economic performance. We should be a literacy society”, she added.
At the competition, Edo State took first position with 80.5 percent, Kano State second runner up and Ondo State first runner up.