Vice President Kashim Shettima has vowed that the growing informal sector and low labour force participation occasioned by the staggering unemployment rate in Nigeria must be reversed.
This, he said, is the impression of an unfavourable society the Human Capital Development (HCD) Programme is designed to avert under the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Senator Shettima made the promise on Saturday during the launch of the Nasarawa State Human Capital Development Strategy Document & Gender Transformative Human Capital Development Policy Framework held in Lafia, the state capital.
Speaking at the event, the Vice President emphasised that the administration’s goal is to empower Nigerians with globally competitive skills.
This strategy, he noted, would enable Nigerian workers to excel both domestically and in the international job market.
He stated: “Nasarawa State’s commitment to the Human Capital Development (HCD) Programme, a lifeline for our nation, is built on the collective realisation that enough is enough. Enough of the cycles that have held us back. Enough of the legacies of unplanned high fertility rates and alarming maternal and under-five mortality rates. Enough of our vulnerable populations facing low life expectancy.
“Enough of the distressing data on our education system—whether it is the mean years of schooling, the high pupil-to-teacher ratios, or the staggering number of youths not in employment, education, or training. The unemployment rates, the growing informal sector, and low labour force participation must be reversed.
“This is the dystopia our Human Capital Development Programme is designed to avert, under the mandate of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. For so long, at the National Economic Council, we have debated the ideal nation we wish to build and the pathways to achieve it.”
The VP attributed the launch of the strategy document and policy framework in Nasarawa State to the leadership and vision of Governor Abdullahi Sule, describing it as a forward-thinking approach that makes a difference.
On her part, Director-General of Nasarawa Human Capital Development Agency, Hajiya Habiba Suleiman, noted that the HCD strategy document for Nasarawa State presented during the event contains the direction for the development of human capital in the state.
Earlier on arrival, the Vice President proceeded to the palace of the Emir of Lafia and Chairman of Nasarawa State Traditional Council, Justice Sidi Bage Muhammad I (rtd), where he paid homage to the royal father and commissioned a palace Museum named after the Shehu of Borno.