HUMAN CAPITAL READINESS FOR SUSTAINABLE NATIONAL GROWTH
1.0 DEFINITION AND IMPORTANCE OF HUMAN CAPITAL
“The most important choice you can make is to maximize your greatest resource, the Nigerian people. If you invest in the health, education and opportunities – the human capital we are talking about today- then they will lay the foundation for sustained prosperity.… To anchor the economy over the long term, investments in infrastructure must go hand in hand with investments in people. People without roads, ports and factories cannot flourish. Also, roads, ports and factories without skilled workers to build and manage them cannot sustain an economy…This is the scenario we all want; Nigeria thrives because everyone is able to thrive.”
- Bill Gates (Founder of Microsoft) (Leadership Newspapers, 2019)
For the sake of clarity, the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) defines human capital as the knowledge, skills and competencies embodied in individuals that facilitate the creation of personal, social and economic well-being. (OECD, 2001) The World Bank estimates that of the three types of capital - natural capital, physical capital and human capital, human capital has a major share in generating economic growth (contributing 64 per cent). (World Development Report, 2019) Without the efficient utilization of its human capital (over 201 million citizens – the 7th most populous in the world) Nigeria’s natural resources (over thirty solid minerals including Kaolin, Coal, Columbite, Casseterite, to mention a few) which are passive factors would be irrelevant as the p in the word ‘psalms’.
Two scenarios illustrate, pellucidly, the importance of proper planning in human capital readiness for sustainable national growth. One of them is the failed mass education policy (1970 to 1975) during Yakubu Gowon’s regime which saw a lot of Nigerians at various ends of the globe being offered full scholarships to study in several fields that were then needed. Sadly, many of them did not return to join hands in building the nation’s human capital stock while the few who returned could not easily fit into the society. This was largely because of Gowon’s overthrow in 1975 by Murtala Mohammed and the attendant policy changes and somersaults. This crop of Nigerian graduates constitute “the wastage generation” in the Nigeria’s political history; highly skilled and competent, yet unsung.
This can be contrasted with the comprehensive and relentless focus on Human Capital Development by Malaysia and Indonesia as against Nigeria’s obsession with crude oil. By 1972, before Nigeria and Indonesia had the first oil boom were equal in terms of economic development. After twenty years of careful attention to human capital development, manufacturing as a percentage of total exports was 40% in Indonesia while it was less than 1% in Nigeria. It would also be recalled that Malaysia that got her first palm seedling from Nigeria in the early 1960s. Following its investments in the capabilities of its populace, Malaysia export of palm produce earned it far more than Nigeria earned from oil export in the 1990s. (Bevan, D., Collier, P., and Gunning, J. W. 1999) It becomes clear from the foregoing that no melody of development can rendered and danced to by Nigeria except it is accompanied by the skillful drumming from its human capital. In fact, Harlan Cleveland, former President of the World Academy of Art and Science, puts the point perspicaciously by observing that the only limits to economic growth are the limits to imagination and creativity.
NIGERIA’S HUMAN CAPITAL: THE GLOOMMY SITUATION TODAY AND THE GLOOMIER REALITIES OF THE FUTURE WORK PLACE
All hopes in the enormous potentials inherent in Nigeria’s human capital shot up when news broke in 2018 that Nigeria earned 21 billion dollars from diaspora remittances (foreign exchange proceeds into Nigeria from Nigerians abroad) – far more than the 18 billion dollars she got from crude oil export. (The Cable, 2019) While this seems commendable, the balloon of Nigeria’s self-praise becomes burst on further comparism with China.
With a population that is seven times more than Nigeria’s, (one billion, 420 million citizens) China received inflows from her human capital abroad that is three times more than Nigeria’s in 2018. (61, 032 billion dollars) When one does a further comparism with USA (with an inflow of 27, 851 billion dollars and India, (with an inflow of 63, 258 billion dollars) it becomes clear that for every available head count in Nigeria, China, USA or India may have more qualified human capital to offer. (The Cable 2019) It thus becomes a case of the popular “local champion” – braggadocious at home but humbled abroad.
While Nigeria’s foreign human capital may compete, albeit unsuccessfully, with other nations her human capital at home cannot rear its head because of the ugly realities. Nigeria is presently ranked 152 out of 157 countries on the World Bank 2018 Human Capital List, sharing the bottom of the index with Chad, South Sudan, Niger, Mali and Liberia. With a towering youth unemployment rate of 33.10% (tradingeconomics.com) and a general unemployment rate of 18.8%, (15.9 million persons or one in eleven Nigerians) (The Vanguard, 2017) we need not travel to Beijing to realize that a huge chunk of the 500, 000 yearly Nigerian graduates (Onah F.O, 2001) have been made redundant. Nigeria’s human capital is beset with a poverty rate of 33.1%, (tradingeconomics.com) thus making her the world’s poverty capital. On account of poverty in Nigeria, poor parents beget poor children, thereby creating a kind of dynasty of the poor as well as unmotivated workers.
There is much to be desired from Nigeria in the two key barometers to gauge the development of human capital; education and health. It is heart-rending that 13.5 million children, who are potential armies of Nigeria’s workforce, are out of school (The Punch 2019) For every three year old Okocha hawking sachet water in the South West, there are two young boys; Ahmed And Musa who sell groundnuts in the North instead of going to school. Potential members of our future workforce have become Boko Haram terrorists; perpetuating destructions at the speed of light. Again, Nigeria needs 872,971 primary school teachers but only 534,974 (60 per cent) are engaged. Out of this, only 294,884 are qualified. What is more? Some state governments have not employed new teachers in more than six years. (Cletus, 2014) Our tertiary institutions not have become the modern gods of thunder- known far and wide for incessant strike actions by academic and non-academic staff.
It becomes a great paradox that Nigerians are asked to take English Language competency tests when looking for jobs or working permits or immigrant visa overseas despite English Language being the official language of job and teaching in Nigeria. Meanwhile we welcome Nationals of other countries with open arms when they work on our doors. This simply foregrounds the low value with which Nigeria’s human capital is accorded abroad viz-a viz the international market.
The health statistics of Nigerians do not call for a thanksgiving service as well. Life expectancy is a mere 54 years. (worldlifeexpectancy.com) Infant mortality (the death of newly born children) is 77 per 1,000 births and maternal mortality stand at 704 per 100,000 live births which is about the highest in the world. (World Health Organization, 2015) One in three Africans is undernourished, one out of seven dies before their fifth birthday, and half of these deaths are due to malnutrition. Only about half the population of Nigeria had access to safe drinking water (40% in rural areas, 60% in urban areas). Even the elites have made medical tourism their pastime as they cannot risk playing “truth and dare” with Nigeria’s health facilities. As R.J. Rummel pointed out, several hundred million children, women and men have been killed by their own governments, more than in the numerous wars, including civil wars.
FROM GLOOM TO BLOOM; DEVELOPING HUMAN CAPITAL FOR SUSTAINABLE NATIONAL GROWTH AND THE NEED FOR A COMPREHENSIVE APPROACH
It is no gain saying that the foregoing challenges portend negative implications for Nigeria’s future work place. The remarkable historian, Arnold Toynbee has however propounded the Law of Challenge and Response which states that if a civilization faced some tremendous challenges, met it head on and survived, the energies released by that mighty effort carried that civilization to newer heights of arts literature and every aspect of culture. This is exemplified by the Greeks, who, after overcoming the opposition of the Persian Empire during the classical era went in to astounding and outstanding achievements in arts architecture, philosophy and drama, producing great minds like Plato, Aristotle and Socrates- men of Athens- whose voices works still reverberates today. Two thousand years later, the English rose up to defeat the great Armada that the Spaniards sent against them. The National pride, purpose and energy thus liberated produced literary giants like Shakespeare, the colonization of the new world and ultimately, the Great British Empire, on which it was said, the sun never set.
In the same vein, Nigeria, which is currently challenged by dwindling human capital, has two options; she may either break down or break records. She may either get pitiful or powerful. The latter can be ensured if certain modalities are put in place. Professor Theodore Schultz, perhaps anticipating solutions to Nigeria’s current dilemma as far back as 1961, proposed a four-fold strategy for investment in human capital that included improvements in formal education at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels; adult literacy programs organized for those that missed formal education; health facilities and services to increase life expectancy and in-service or on-the-job training organized by firms to cater for their new and old workers. (Schultz, T. W. (1961)
The revamping of education in Nigeria therefore is not a suggestion but a necessity. Korea is a glittering example of the importance of education in Human Capital Development. After prioritizing education in her national goals, her tertiary enrollment rose from a mere 7% in 1970 to 98% in 2008, the highest in the world. During this period, Korea‘s per capita GDP multiplied eight-fold to reach $25,500 dollars. At the same time, employment in services underwent a dramatic transformation, rising from 31% to 69% while manufacturing jobs also rose from 19% to a peak of 37%. Over the past decade Korea has had one of the lowest unemployment rates in the world. (Bevan, D., Collier, P., and Gunning, J. W., 2009)
Clearly, the twenty-first century has shifted from muscle power to mind power and from brawn power to brain powerThe Indian philosopher Sri Aurobindo informed that human capital has advanced through three evolutionary stages viz; physical stage (which involved a preoccupation with the struggle for physical survival, food, shelter and self-defense), the vital stage ( during which human interaction through trade and commerce was the predominant field of activity) to the present mental stage (in which the application of mind to physical processes stimulates ideas, inventions, research, knowledge, creativity, technological development, and industrialization.) By developing education, Nigeria could engender sustainable economic growth – one that ensures that the present human capital can meet its own needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. (The Brundtland Report, 1972)
3.1 THE ROLE OF THE GOVERNMENT
Section 14 (2) (b) of the Constitution makes security and welfare of the people the primary purpose of government. It becomes pertinent therefore that the provision of relevant education – to stimulate human capital development- should not be a constitutional carrot dangled in the face of citizens which they cannot eat. To increase enrolment rates in institutions of learning, the government must implement the free Universal Basic (primary school) Education (UBE) and free health care programmes at Federal State and Local Levels. While bringing people into schools is one part of the equation, good quality and relevance of what is learnt balances the equation. The present curriculum should also be revisited by the Ministry of Education in order to make it “functional.” It must go beyond the traditional goal of literacy and numeracy to liberating, stimulating and informing the individual while teaching how to live right in the work force. After all, education should be the kindling of a flame and not the filling of a vessel. In essence, Nigeria must bridge the knowledge gap, sustainable knowledge-gap, in order to avoid the underdevelopment trap.
Students should also be trained to be more skilful and independent rather than emphasis on paper qualifications. As a corollary to this, entrepreneurship studies should be made a part and parcel of Nigeria’s tertiary education irrespective of a student’s course. This will ensure that youths – who have been tagged the jobless generation, can ensure job generation. This connection has been aptly rendered by the Okun's Law, (named after Arthur Melvis Okun, an African economist) which states that for 1% increase in a country's employment rate, country's GDP, a country's GDP will be roughly an additional 2% higher. The red tape, low power supply and high cost which impedes the establishment and the quotidian running of businesses must also be eliminated to improve Nigeria’s present ranking as the 146th nation in the ease of doing business.
Vocational Institutes which should encompass trainings in business management, strategic marketing, internship, behavioral skills and mentoring needed for the survival and growth of small businesses must be provided to enable youths build sustainable businesses. Nigeria can take a cue from India that has 4,200 industrial training institutes which impart vocational training to nearly 600,000 trainees in 43 engineering and 24 non engineering trades. ( Ashwani Agarwal, 2003) This addition will help youths to employ their passions in the service of their lives instead of servicing their passions.
The government time and again has failed to meet its budgetary commitment of at least 15 % to the health sector (as it had earlier promised in the Abuja Declaration) while UNESCO’s recommended 26% allocation to the education sector has remained a pipe dream. Worst still, the new minimum wage of thirty thousand Naira (which is still grossly insufficient) is yet to be implemented at all levels. This should be reversed. Government must stop paying lip service to worker’s welfare rather it should ensure that they are well fed and must also be committed to their well-being. In order to provide health facilities and services that will improve the life expectancy, strength and stamina, and the vigour and vitality of citizens, adequate commitment from the government is needed.
Again, the last population census was conducted in year 2006 – thirteen years ago. This has inhibited the establishment of a comprehensive plan for developing Nigeria’s human capital to ensure economic growth. We have resigned to planning for human resource by guessing, intuition and other unscientific approaches – how appalling! Government must reverse these trends in order not to become a dangerously structured dam that blocks the flow of progress. The government also has the onus of creating an enabling environment to encourage private sector investments in the education and health sectors by eliminating corruption. A proper machinery to severely and expeditiously punish corrupt officials will ensure that officials remain stainless like linen and above board like Caesar’s wife.
3.2 ROLE OF CORPORATE BODIES
Corporate bodies also have a role in this crusade. They must be active agents in curriculum development in line with the doctrine of the “town and gown” collaboration. This will ensure that that the knowledge being dispensed in our ivory towers are not insulated from the practical field of reality. Again, they must also show preferences for skilled Nigerian workers as opposed to foreign workers. Consequently, abuses of expatriate quota by multinationals that keep saturating the Nigerian market with lowly skilled staff from foreign countries must be checked and replaced with Nigerians in tandem with the local content laws.
In tandem with the advice of professor Theodore Schultz’ fourth remedy for improving human capital, employers should bear the cross of organizing in-house training program for their workers in order for them to sit at the right hand of the table of economic growth. Denmark has been able to break new frontiers in her human capital development owing to the almost 1,000 hours of non-formal job-related training over the course of each worker’s career. While Italian workers receive less than 100 hours, it is doubtful if Nigerian workers fare any better. The complex range of skills today requires trainings. These trainings could be computer – based thus significantly reducing costs.
3.3 THE ROLE OF THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY NIGERIAN WORKER IN HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT FOR SUSTAINABLE NATIONAL GROWTH
While it is easy to blame every other person (the government or his employer) for his declining productivity, the worker must know that as he points a finger to others, three fingers point back at him. Aurelio Peccei, the founder of the Club of Rome, once asserted that human capital must be the most underutilized of all forms of capital because it is capable of self-augmentation and self-evolution. It would therefore be out-of place to discuss human capital development without the role of self.
In order to improve his skills, the Nigerian worker must pay attention to six key elements as propounded by Dr. Oludayo Olumuyiwa, an executive member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria. First, he must seek to upgrade his credentials by getting as many certifications as possible from professional bodies like the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management or online certifications. Next, he must discover his unique attributes in order to realize the best jobs that fit his personality in the changing world of work. The Latin maxim, nemo dat quod non habet, rings true. A worker cannot give what he does not have.
In addition, a worker must seek to acquire skills- both technical and professional. Skills in ICT for instance has become indispensable in today’s world of work – which contains disruptive technologies such as machine learning, block chain, internet of things, artificial intelligence and augmented reality. Acquisition of industry knowledge, Experience (through internships and volunteering) as well as talent discovery and development are veritable chiesels to carve out development for the Nigerian worker.
It needs pointing out that while Credentials, Attributes, Skills , Knowledge, Experience and Talent forms the acronym of C.A.S.K.E.T, applying these elements would not kill the Nigerian worker, rather it would make him strong enough to unbundle his capacity for superior performance and enable him to fully empty himself totally by the time he dies at a good old age. When the foregoing principles are implemented, Nigeria will no longer have workers who only wear smart suits but are not suitable for their job.
CONCLUSION
Prior to the 1930s, uranium was considered as an undesirable by-product of silver mining. In fact, its German name, “pechblende” partly meant nuisance or failure. It was not up till the 1930s that it was discovered that uranium—through a process of fission accompanied by emission of neutrons sustaining a chain reaction—is a powerful energy source. In the same vein, ―for decades we have tended to overlook or, at best, grossly underestimate the greatest of all resources and the true source of all the discoveries, inventions, creativity and productive power found in nature—the resource that has made minerals into ships that sail the seas, fashioned grains of sand into tiny electronic brains, released the energy of the sun from the atom, modified the genetic code of plants to increase their vigor and productivity—the ultimate resource, the human being.
With the concerted effort of the government, corporate bodies and workers themselves, we can truly develop our human capital thus combating poverty - which according to Indira Ghandi is the worst form of pollution. In the words of a renowned Chinese Human Resource expert and reformer, Kaunchung “if you wish to plan for a year, sow a seed, if you wish to plan for ten years, plant trees! If you wish to plan for a life time, develop man.”
BIBLIOGRAPHY
World Development Report, ‘The Changing World of Work’ (2019)
Dr. Oludayo Olumuyiwa, “Unbundling Worker’s Capacity For Superior Performance” (2019); A Speech at The Inauguration of the Human Resource Club, University of Ibadan
Cletus Alkodion Owuze, “Human Capital Development Strategies and Manpower Requirements in Enterprises in Nigeria” (2014)
Obafemi Awolowo, “Path to Nigerian Freedom” (1996) Faber and Faber, London.
Oyeshola Dokun, O.P, “Sustainable Development: Issues and Challenges For Nigeria” (2008)
The Cable, “Nigeria: Becoming a human capital export nation.ng/Nigeria-becoming-a human-capital-nation” (May 6, 2019)
Ashwani Agarwal, “Industrial Training Institutes of India” The Efficiency Study Report, 2003
World Health Organization, “World Health Statistics” (2015)
OECD, “Fostering Entreprenuernship and Firm Creation as aDriver of Growth in a Global Economy,” 2nd OECD Conference of Ministers Responsible for SMEs, June 2001, 6, http://www.oecd.org/cfe/smes/31917899.pdf.
Leadership Newspapers, “Nigeria: Priortising Human Capital Development in Nigeria’s Economy.” (2019)
Schultz, T. W., Investment in Human Capital. (1961) The American Economic Review 51(5).
The Punch Newpapers, “Youth empowerment as remedy to insecurity.” (2019)
Egbon PC, “Empowerment, business environment and entrepreneurial activity.” (2009) Nigerian Industrial and Technological Research Journal
O. E. Ogunkola and A. Bankole (eds) “Nigeria’s Imperatives in the New World Trade Order.” (2005) Nairobi: African Economic Research Consortium and Ibadan: Trade Policy Research and Training Programme, 101‒58.
Bevan, D., Collier, P., and Gunning, J. W. The Political Economy of Poverty, Equity, and Growth: Nigeria and Indonesia. Washington, DC: World Bank and Oxford: Oxford University Press (2009).
Adenikinju, A. F ‘African Imperatives in the New World Order: Country Case Study of the Manufacturing Sector in Nigeria’, (2005).
Adebayo, A.”Youth Unemployment and National Directorate of Employment Self Employment Programmes.” (1999). Nigerian Journal of Economics and Social Studies, 41(1), 81-102.
Onah F.O, “Urban Unemployment Situation in Nigeria.” (2001) Enugu: Jamo Enterprises. Pp. 154-167
Allafrica.com/stories/201902050062.html?
1.0 DEFINITION AND IMPORTANCE OF HUMAN CAPITAL
“The most important choice you can make is to maximize your greatest resource, the Nigerian people. If you invest in the health, education and opportunities – the human capital we are talking about today- then they will lay the foundation for sustained prosperity.… To anchor the economy over the long term, investments in infrastructure must go hand in hand with investments in people. People without roads, ports and factories cannot flourish. Also, roads, ports and factories without skilled workers to build and manage them cannot sustain an economy…This is the scenario we all want; Nigeria thrives because everyone is able to thrive.”
- Bill Gates (Founder of Microsoft) (Leadership Newspapers, 2019)
For the sake of clarity, the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) defines human capital as the knowledge, skills and competencies embodied in individuals that facilitate the creation of personal, social and economic well-being. (OECD, 2001) The World Bank estimates that of the three types of capital - natural capital, physical capital and human capital, human capital has a major share in generating economic growth (contributing 64 per cent). (World Development Report, 2019) Without the efficient utilization of its human capital (over 201 million citizens – the 7th most populous in the world) Nigeria’s natural resources (over thirty solid minerals including Kaolin, Coal, Columbite, Casseterite, to mention a few) which are passive factors would be irrelevant as the p in the word ‘psalms’.
Two scenarios illustrate, pellucidly, the importance of proper planning in human capital readiness for sustainable national growth. One of them is the failed mass education policy (1970 to 1975) during Yakubu Gowon’s regime which saw a lot of Nigerians at various ends of the globe being offered full scholarships to study in several fields that were then needed. Sadly, many of them did not return to join hands in building the nation’s human capital stock while the few who returned could not easily fit into the society. This was largely because of Gowon’s overthrow in 1975 by Murtala Mohammed and the attendant policy changes and somersaults. This crop of Nigerian graduates constitute “the wastage generation” in the Nigeria’s political history; highly skilled and competent, yet unsung.
This can be contrasted with the comprehensive and relentless focus on Human Capital Development by Malaysia and Indonesia as against Nigeria’s obsession with crude oil. By 1972, before Nigeria and Indonesia had the first oil boom were equal in terms of economic development. After twenty years of careful attention to human capital development, manufacturing as a percentage of total exports was 40% in Indonesia while it was less than 1% in Nigeria. It would also be recalled that Malaysia that got her first palm seedling from Nigeria in the early 1960s. Following its investments in the capabilities of its populace, Malaysia export of palm produce earned it far more than Nigeria earned from oil export in the 1990s. (Bevan, D., Collier, P., and Gunning, J. W. 1999) It becomes clear from the foregoing that no melody of development can rendered and danced to by Nigeria except it is accompanied by the skillful drumming from its human capital. In fact, Harlan Cleveland, former President of the World Academy of Art and Science, puts the point perspicaciously by observing that the only limits to economic growth are the limits to imagination and creativity.
NIGERIA’S HUMAN CAPITAL: THE GLOOMMY SITUATION TODAY AND THE GLOOMIER REALITIES OF THE FUTURE WORK PLACE
All hopes in the enormous potentials inherent in Nigeria’s human capital shot up when news broke in 2018 that Nigeria earned 21 billion dollars from diaspora remittances (foreign exchange proceeds into Nigeria from Nigerians abroad) – far more than the 18 billion dollars she got from crude oil export. (The Cable, 2019) While this seems commendable, the balloon of Nigeria’s self-praise becomes burst on further comparism with China.
With a population that is seven times more than Nigeria’s, (one billion, 420 million citizens) China received inflows from her human capital abroad that is three times more than Nigeria’s in 2018. (61, 032 billion dollars) When one does a further comparism with USA (with an inflow of 27, 851 billion dollars and India, (with an inflow of 63, 258 billion dollars) it becomes clear that for every available head count in Nigeria, China, USA or India may have more qualified human capital to offer. (The Cable 2019) It thus becomes a case of the popular “local champion” – braggadocious at home but humbled abroad.
While Nigeria’s foreign human capital may compete, albeit unsuccessfully, with other nations her human capital at home cannot rear its head because of the ugly realities. Nigeria is presently ranked 152 out of 157 countries on the World Bank 2018 Human Capital List, sharing the bottom of the index with Chad, South Sudan, Niger, Mali and Liberia. With a towering youth unemployment rate of 33.10% (tradingeconomics.com) and a general unemployment rate of 18.8%, (15.9 million persons or one in eleven Nigerians) (The Vanguard, 2017) we need not travel to Beijing to realize that a huge chunk of the 500, 000 yearly Nigerian graduates (Onah F.O, 2001) have been made redundant. Nigeria’s human capital is beset with a poverty rate of 33.1%, (tradingeconomics.com) thus making her the world’s poverty capital. On account of poverty in Nigeria, poor parents beget poor children, thereby creating a kind of dynasty of the poor as well as unmotivated workers.
There is much to be desired from Nigeria in the two key barometers to gauge the development of human capital; education and health. It is heart-rending that 13.5 million children, who are potential armies of Nigeria’s workforce, are out of school (The Punch 2019) For every three year old Okocha hawking sachet water in the South West, there are two young boys; Ahmed And Musa who sell groundnuts in the North instead of going to school. Potential members of our future workforce have become Boko Haram terrorists; perpetuating destructions at the speed of light. Again, Nigeria needs 872,971 primary school teachers but only 534,974 (60 per cent) are engaged. Out of this, only 294,884 are qualified. What is more? Some state governments have not employed new teachers in more than six years. (Cletus, 2014) Our tertiary institutions not have become the modern gods of thunder- known far and wide for incessant strike actions by academic and non-academic staff.
It becomes a great paradox that Nigerians are asked to take English Language competency tests when looking for jobs or working permits or immigrant visa overseas despite English Language being the official language of job and teaching in Nigeria. Meanwhile we welcome Nationals of other countries with open arms when they work on our doors. This simply foregrounds the low value with which Nigeria’s human capital is accorded abroad viz-a viz the international market.
The health statistics of Nigerians do not call for a thanksgiving service as well. Life expectancy is a mere 54 years. (worldlifeexpectancy.com) Infant mortality (the death of newly born children) is 77 per 1,000 births and maternal mortality stand at 704 per 100,000 live births which is about the highest in the world. (World Health Organization, 2015) One in three Africans is undernourished, one out of seven dies before their fifth birthday, and half of these deaths are due to malnutrition. Only about half the population of Nigeria had access to safe drinking water (40% in rural areas, 60% in urban areas). Even the elites have made medical tourism their pastime as they cannot risk playing “truth and dare” with Nigeria’s health facilities. As R.J. Rummel pointed out, several hundred million children, women and men have been killed by their own governments, more than in the numerous wars, including civil wars.
FROM GLOOM TO BLOOM; DEVELOPING HUMAN CAPITAL FOR SUSTAINABLE NATIONAL GROWTH AND THE NEED FOR A COMPREHENSIVE APPROACH
It is no gain saying that the foregoing challenges portend negative implications for Nigeria’s future work place. The remarkable historian, Arnold Toynbee has however propounded the Law of Challenge and Response which states that if a civilization faced some tremendous challenges, met it head on and survived, the energies released by that mighty effort carried that civilization to newer heights of arts literature and every aspect of culture. This is exemplified by the Greeks, who, after overcoming the opposition of the Persian Empire during the classical era went in to astounding and outstanding achievements in arts architecture, philosophy and drama, producing great minds like Plato, Aristotle and Socrates- men of Athens- whose voices works still reverberates today. Two thousand years later, the English rose up to defeat the great Armada that the Spaniards sent against them. The National pride, purpose and energy thus liberated produced literary giants like Shakespeare, the colonization of the new world and ultimately, the Great British Empire, on which it was said, the sun never set.
In the same vein, Nigeria, which is currently challenged by dwindling human capital, has two options; she may either break down or break records. She may either get pitiful or powerful. The latter can be ensured if certain modalities are put in place. Professor Theodore Schultz, perhaps anticipating solutions to Nigeria’s current dilemma as far back as 1961, proposed a four-fold strategy for investment in human capital that included improvements in formal education at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels; adult literacy programs organized for those that missed formal education; health facilities and services to increase life expectancy and in-service or on-the-job training organized by firms to cater for their new and old workers. (Schultz, T. W. (1961)
The revamping of education in Nigeria therefore is not a suggestion but a necessity. Korea is a glittering example of the importance of education in Human Capital Development. After prioritizing education in her national goals, her tertiary enrollment rose from a mere 7% in 1970 to 98% in 2008, the highest in the world. During this period, Korea‘s per capita GDP multiplied eight-fold to reach $25,500 dollars. At the same time, employment in services underwent a dramatic transformation, rising from 31% to 69% while manufacturing jobs also rose from 19% to a peak of 37%. Over the past decade Korea has had one of the lowest unemployment rates in the world. (Bevan, D., Collier, P., and Gunning, J. W., 2009)
Clearly, the twenty-first century has shifted from muscle power to mind power and from brawn power to brain powerThe Indian philosopher Sri Aurobindo informed that human capital has advanced through three evolutionary stages viz; physical stage (which involved a preoccupation with the struggle for physical survival, food, shelter and self-defense), the vital stage ( during which human interaction through trade and commerce was the predominant field of activity) to the present mental stage (in which the application of mind to physical processes stimulates ideas, inventions, research, knowledge, creativity, technological development, and industrialization.) By developing education, Nigeria could engender sustainable economic growth – one that ensures that the present human capital can meet its own needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. (The Brundtland Report, 1972)
3.1 THE ROLE OF THE GOVERNMENT
Section 14 (2) (b) of the Constitution makes security and welfare of the people the primary purpose of government. It becomes pertinent therefore that the provision of relevant education – to stimulate human capital development- should not be a constitutional carrot dangled in the face of citizens which they cannot eat. To increase enrolment rates in institutions of learning, the government must implement the free Universal Basic (primary school) Education (UBE) and free health care programmes at Federal State and Local Levels. While bringing people into schools is one part of the equation, good quality and relevance of what is learnt balances the equation. The present curriculum should also be revisited by the Ministry of Education in order to make it “functional.” It must go beyond the traditional goal of literacy and numeracy to liberating, stimulating and informing the individual while teaching how to live right in the work force. After all, education should be the kindling of a flame and not the filling of a vessel. In essence, Nigeria must bridge the knowledge gap, sustainable knowledge-gap, in order to avoid the underdevelopment trap.
Students should also be trained to be more skilful and independent rather than emphasis on paper qualifications. As a corollary to this, entrepreneurship studies should be made a part and parcel of Nigeria’s tertiary education irrespective of a student’s course. This will ensure that youths – who have been tagged the jobless generation, can ensure job generation. This connection has been aptly rendered by the Okun's Law, (named after Arthur Melvis Okun, an African economist) which states that for 1% increase in a country's employment rate, country's GDP, a country's GDP will be roughly an additional 2% higher. The red tape, low power supply and high cost which impedes the establishment and the quotidian running of businesses must also be eliminated to improve Nigeria’s present ranking as the 146th nation in the ease of doing business.
Vocational Institutes which should encompass trainings in business management, strategic marketing, internship, behavioral skills and mentoring needed for the survival and growth of small businesses must be provided to enable youths build sustainable businesses. Nigeria can take a cue from India that has 4,200 industrial training institutes which impart vocational training to nearly 600,000 trainees in 43 engineering and 24 non engineering trades. ( Ashwani Agarwal, 2003) This addition will help youths to employ their passions in the service of their lives instead of servicing their passions.
The government time and again has failed to meet its budgetary commitment of at least 15 % to the health sector (as it had earlier promised in the Abuja Declaration) while UNESCO’s recommended 26% allocation to the education sector has remained a pipe dream. Worst still, the new minimum wage of thirty thousand Naira (which is still grossly insufficient) is yet to be implemented at all levels. This should be reversed. Government must stop paying lip service to worker’s welfare rather it should ensure that they are well fed and must also be committed to their well-being. In order to provide health facilities and services that will improve the life expectancy, strength and stamina, and the vigour and vitality of citizens, adequate commitment from the government is needed.
Again, the last population census was conducted in year 2006 – thirteen years ago. This has inhibited the establishment of a comprehensive plan for developing Nigeria’s human capital to ensure economic growth. We have resigned to planning for human resource by guessing, intuition and other unscientific approaches – how appalling! Government must reverse these trends in order not to become a dangerously structured dam that blocks the flow of progress. The government also has the onus of creating an enabling environment to encourage private sector investments in the education and health sectors by eliminating corruption. A proper machinery to severely and expeditiously punish corrupt officials will ensure that officials remain stainless like linen and above board like Caesar’s wife.
3.2 ROLE OF CORPORATE BODIES
Corporate bodies also have a role in this crusade. They must be active agents in curriculum development in line with the doctrine of the “town and gown” collaboration. This will ensure that that the knowledge being dispensed in our ivory towers are not insulated from the practical field of reality. Again, they must also show preferences for skilled Nigerian workers as opposed to foreign workers. Consequently, abuses of expatriate quota by multinationals that keep saturating the Nigerian market with lowly skilled staff from foreign countries must be checked and replaced with Nigerians in tandem with the local content laws.
In tandem with the advice of professor Theodore Schultz’ fourth remedy for improving human capital, employers should bear the cross of organizing in-house training program for their workers in order for them to sit at the right hand of the table of economic growth. Denmark has been able to break new frontiers in her human capital development owing to the almost 1,000 hours of non-formal job-related training over the course of each worker’s career. While Italian workers receive less than 100 hours, it is doubtful if Nigerian workers fare any better. The complex range of skills today requires trainings. These trainings could be computer – based thus significantly reducing costs.
3.3 THE ROLE OF THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY NIGERIAN WORKER IN HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT FOR SUSTAINABLE NATIONAL GROWTH
While it is easy to blame every other person (the government or his employer) for his declining productivity, the worker must know that as he points a finger to others, three fingers point back at him. Aurelio Peccei, the founder of the Club of Rome, once asserted that human capital must be the most underutilized of all forms of capital because it is capable of self-augmentation and self-evolution. It would therefore be out-of place to discuss human capital development without the role of self.
In order to improve his skills, the Nigerian worker must pay attention to six key elements as propounded by Dr. Oludayo Olumuyiwa, an executive member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria. First, he must seek to upgrade his credentials by getting as many certifications as possible from professional bodies like the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management or online certifications. Next, he must discover his unique attributes in order to realize the best jobs that fit his personality in the changing world of work. The Latin maxim, nemo dat quod non habet, rings true. A worker cannot give what he does not have.
In addition, a worker must seek to acquire skills- both technical and professional. Skills in ICT for instance has become indispensable in today’s world of work – which contains disruptive technologies such as machine learning, block chain, internet of things, artificial intelligence and augmented reality. Acquisition of industry knowledge, Experience (through internships and volunteering) as well as talent discovery and development are veritable chiesels to carve out development for the Nigerian worker.
It needs pointing out that while Credentials, Attributes, Skills , Knowledge, Experience and Talent forms the acronym of C.A.S.K.E.T, applying these elements would not kill the Nigerian worker, rather it would make him strong enough to unbundle his capacity for superior performance and enable him to fully empty himself totally by the time he dies at a good old age. When the foregoing principles are implemented, Nigeria will no longer have workers who only wear smart suits but are not suitable for their job.
CONCLUSION
Prior to the 1930s, uranium was considered as an undesirable by-product of silver mining. In fact, its German name, “pechblende” partly meant nuisance or failure. It was not up till the 1930s that it was discovered that uranium—through a process of fission accompanied by emission of neutrons sustaining a chain reaction—is a powerful energy source. In the same vein, ―for decades we have tended to overlook or, at best, grossly underestimate the greatest of all resources and the true source of all the discoveries, inventions, creativity and productive power found in nature—the resource that has made minerals into ships that sail the seas, fashioned grains of sand into tiny electronic brains, released the energy of the sun from the atom, modified the genetic code of plants to increase their vigor and productivity—the ultimate resource, the human being.
With the concerted effort of the government, corporate bodies and workers themselves, we can truly develop our human capital thus combating poverty - which according to Indira Ghandi is the worst form of pollution. In the words of a renowned Chinese Human Resource expert and reformer, Kaunchung “if you wish to plan for a year, sow a seed, if you wish to plan for ten years, plant trees! If you wish to plan for a life time, develop man.”
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