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Africa: Group Seeks Enhanced Human Capital Devt
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This Day (Lagos)
13 May 2008
Posted to the web 14 May 2008
Chinazor Megbolu
Lagos
A group, made up of Nigerian intellectuals under the Human Development Policy Commission of Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESG) is set to chart a new way of helping the country grow on its human capital development.
Chairman of the group, Dr. Sunny Kuku, while addressing newsmen in Lagos recently described Nigeria as an emerging economy but without the requisite skills, since, according to him, the level of her human capital development is very poor. Kuku said that the government's Vision 2020 strategy will not work and cannot be achieved because the country is a third world which is afflicted with lack of job creation; adding that a huge population abroad have inadvertently moved Nigeria and Africa at large backwards.
He stated that for Vision 2020 to work, something has to be done right from the grassroots to every part of the nation, reason for the conference organised by the group. The NESG Chairman disclosed that four areas throughout the federation have been selected to focus on the issue, namely Kano, Awka in Anambra State, Lagos and Kaduna respectively; and said the chosen locations are to bring people from both the private and public sectors to deliberate on the way forward for the country to achieve Vision 2020.
Kuku said the summit will focus on three things that will help move the nation forward, including the health and educational sectors as well as youth development; and that the group will be split into three to address these issues. To him, this will bring home to the people the import of policies and procedures, as well as make the people to understand the health and educational sectors to promote awareness concerning the need for improved human development.
The conference, Kuku said, would also address how to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), as a continuation of past series of meetings which came out with suggested policies that were conveyed to the Federal Government.
He disclosed that the group intends to hold a mini summit where policy makers will be invited to brainstorm with stakeholders so they could find useful ways to promote development as well as convince the government on how to manage the resources at its disposal well.
The Chairman added that the conference would also discuss on how the Local Councils can create jobs for the youths because it is their responsibility to do so; adding that the vision is to place Nigeria among the top 20 economies in the world.
The event which is billed to take place this weekend in Kano, is to be funded by a number of public and private institutions who are already interested stakeholders; and also pointed that the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have expressed willingness to lend their support towards the conference.
The conference, Kuku noted, is expected to serve as an avenue to develop projects that will work; adding that teams are already in all the States in Nigeria, collecting statistics on how to improve on the foundations of primary and secondary schools respectively.
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He expressed hope that the country's lawmakers will contribute to the programme and help to pass laws that will ensure that the policies are well implemented at the end of the day.
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