I will like to see a country where our people live and work in an environment that guarantees the highest level of social empowerment

In our drive to move vigorously ahead, nothing will be more important than the development of human resources. Indeed, the key to long-term development of any nation has been and will always be harnessing the potentials of its human resources. Nigeria cannot be an exception.

Nigeria is a human-resource rich economy with a youthful and agile population.  70% of the population is below the age of 30 years and nearly 50% of Nigeria's 200 million people are women. Therefore, our youth are our greatest asset. They are the future of our nation. Our women are Nigeria's ultimate resource. We shall invest in them and build their capacity to access the economic opportunities that shall abound.

Nigeria does not currently invest adequate resources to develop its human resources. For example:

• Nigeria's public spending on education as percentage of GDP in 2017 was 3%, very low when compared to other countries in Africa: Burundi (5.4%), Ghana (6.2%), Malawi (5.6%), Mozambique (6.9%) and Namibia (8.3%). Though slightly higher in 2018 at 7%, it is still below the recommended 26% of national budget by the United Nations.
• General government expenditure on health as percentage of total government expenditure was 4.6% in 2017, and estimated at 3.9% in 2018, falling down further of the Abuja declaration target of 15%.

In the latest UN 2018 Human Development Index (HDI), Nigeria has a score of 0.532 which classifies the country as a low-income country with low human development. The score is significantly below Republic of Korea (0.903), Turkey (0.791), Mexico (0.774), India (0.640) and Egypt (0.696).  16 million of Nigeria's Labour Force (LF) population is unemployed, 18 million more are under-employed. Of its 43 million youth  in LF,  11 million or 25% are unemployed  while 12 million  or 27% are under-employed. 

Other dimensions of Human Development in Nigeria are as follows:

a. Life Expectancy at birth is put at less than 54 years. Since 1990, it has increased by 8 years, compared to an increase of 11 years each in South Africa. Expected Years of Schooling has improved from 6.7 years to 10 years. This is low compared to South Africa with 13.3 years.

b. Mean Years of Schooling remains poor at 6.2 years compared to South Africa with 10.1 years. And finally.

c. Nigeria's Gross National Income (GNI) per capita is estimated at US$5,231 or 50% of that of South Africa.

There are significant variations in the Human Development dimensions between geo-political zones as well as between states. These variations are indicative of the unevenness of economic and social development in the country. The North East geo-political zone has the lowest Human Development Index (0.332) and the highest Human Poverty Index (48.9). 

As we all know, there are severe gender disparities occasioned by religious and cultural factors especially with regards to access to education, income and productive assets. The HDI value for women is 0.494, compared with 0.569 for men according to the HD Report of 2018. There are geographic disparities too. For example, in many parts of Nigeria there are more women without formal, western-style education than men. This denies them access to formal, high-wage-paying public and private sector jobs. Women have less access to jobs than their male counterparts as revealed by a lower share of women in formal sector employment than that of men.  The rate of unemployment among women in Nigeria is approximately 21.8% compared to 20.5% for men.  Female underemployment rate is 43% comapred to 37% for the male.

What We Will Do

Given these, we shall prioritize human capital development as a key component of our economic development strategy. Our overall objective is that by 2025, Nigeria's HDI score will be at least 0.70 which will classify the country as Medium-income country by focusing on the following pillars:

a. Reposition the Nigerian educational system to deliver more efficiently, effectively and sustainably;

b. Promote health care delivery system that is comprehensive, efficient and can deliver effective and qualitative services to the citizens. Health care services shall be more accessible and affordable;

c. Implement a robust job creation and entrepreneurship development programmes that will target the youth. The objective of our job creation strategy will be to shift the status of the unemployed, especially the youth, to a more economically empowered place through greater access to quality skills and better employment opportunities;

d. Design and implement special interventions to support the marginalized and vulnerable groups, including people with physical disabilities and special needs in the society but not limited to conditional cash transfers, free health care etc.;

e. Create space in which people with disabilities requiring special needs can flourish by:

• Ensuring the rights of persons living with disabilities are protected and existing laws are implemented, and by encouraging states to adopt these laws.
• Increasing funding to the MDAs that carter to the needs of this special population.
• Addressing the needs of persons living with various disabilities in different sectors i.e.  education, transportation, housing, health, and employment as follows: ­
  • Training special needs professionals to offer services within the Education sector. ­
  • Increasing availability of schools that can provide special needs services.
  • Making readily available teaching and learning aids through duty free import or support for local production of such aids. ­
  • Strict monitoring and evaluation of schools providing special care for people with special needs. ­
  • Involve private sector transportation operators to increase access to transportation and create incentives for those who operate wheelchair accessible buses. ­
  • Incentivise businesses and landlords of public and private sector buildings for creating ramps with rails and other building modifications that are designed to accommodate persons with disabilities. ­
  • Review and update the healthcare delivery services for persons with disabilities to reflect the present-day realities and address 21st century needs of these special citizens. ­
  • Incorporate the needs of persons with disabilities wherever possible to ensure a more inclusive workforce by employment and specialized skill acquisition schemes.

f. Promote research in science and technology through the establishment  of a National Research and Innovation Fund with funding windows to cater for:

• Employer-based training schemes in both the formal and informal  sectors.
• Capacity support scheme for trainer provider.
• Technology development grants.

g. Extend welfare to senior citizens in areas of healthcare and public transport concessions.

h. Increase investments in the human development sub-sectors especially education and health by committing 25% of the budget to education and 15% to health under a collaborative process and within the 3G partnership.

i. Work towards bridging the gender and spatial gaps that exist in education and health. With regards to gender disparities in education, we shall design and implement robust interventions, including but not limited to conditional cash transfers, to assist in:

• Supporting the adolescent girls in school- and their caregivers; and
• Encouraging and promoting more schools for girls in science and technology and generally stimulating interest in science courses for women.