World Bank: Nigeria should invest in its youth to propel economic growth

Nigeria has been tasked to invest in the development of its youth in order to propel the country towards economic growth.

This advice was given at the Expanded National Economic Council on Investment in Human Capital held at the Presidential Villa on Thursday.

The meeting which was chaired by the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, had in attendance, international philanthropist and Microsoft Chairman, Bill Gates; Chairman, Dangote foundation, Aliko Dangote, ministers, state governors, and development partners working in Nigeria.

Speaking at the event, the World Bank Country Director, Rachid Benmessaoud, said Nigeria has everything it takes to compete with higher economies if it invests in the education and health of its people.

Mr. Benmessaoud said Nigeria’s greatest asset is not the oil but its population.

He said for Nigeria to grow its economy, it must capitalise on its youth and build human capital to propel the country out of poverty.

“Human capital development must be stemmed up. Stemming up the youth human capital can propel the country to compete with higher economies. There is a need to invest more in education and health, he said

Mr. Benmessaoud said Nigeria has the fifth largest population, which is projected to soon be the third in the world.

“Nigeria has one of the largest population of youth and one of the highest level of poverty across the globe. Nigerian population means a large market for services, knowledge and manpower, unfortunately, about 50 per cent of this population are living below poverty level.

“The only way out is to harness the youth population and invest in policies that would translate to human development. Human capital and financing is very important and the World Bank is committed to support human development efforts in Nigeria, he said.

Also speaking at the event, Debbie Palmer, head of The UK Department for International Development (DFID) in Nigeria, said Nigeria’s most valuable asset both now and in future is the people and human capital.

Ms. Palmer said to get out of the low economic situation in the country, Nigeria has to invest in human capital for long term goals and posterity.

She said Nigeria has the highest school age children out of school in the world and highest child mortality rate and tackling it has to do with improving investment in both education and health sector.

She argued that it is important for adults and youth to acquire skilled and unskilled knowledge.

“A proper investment and improvement in education and job creation to employ the youth is what Nigeria needs to transform from lower to high middle level economy in the next 40 years, she said.

Also speaking, the Nigerian Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, called for more investment in the educational sector.

He said though the federal government in the 2016 budget increased the budgetary allocation for education, the money is still not enough to ensure that Nigeria achieves the human development it envisages.

Mr. Adamu in his speech said the panacea to development in any country is the quality of education the government gives to its citizens.

According to him, though there are other sources of funding coming to the sector, two major challenges facing the sector is funding and corruption.

Mr. Adamu said to achieve a headway in improving the sector in terms of human capital development, there is a need to tackle corruption.

“If corruption in the sector is not tackled, the level of education in the country will not improve. The nation must make conscious effort to multiply what we budget for education and also fight the systemic/infrastructure of corruption in the country,” he added.