Vice President Kashim Shettima says the nation’s economy has started improving and will rebound in the coming months.
Mr Shettima gave the assurances on Saturday during the launch of the Nasarawa State Human Capital Development Strategy Document and Gender Transformative Human Capital Development Policy Framework held in Lafia, the state capital.
He said the growing informal sector and low labour force participation occasioned by the staggering unemployment rate in Nigeria must be reversed.
The vice president said this is the impression of an unfavourable society the Human Capital Development (HCD) programme was designed to avert under President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
He emphasised that Mr Tinubu’s administration aimed to empower Nigerians with globally competitive skills to enable Nigerian workers to excel domestically and in the international job market.
” 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,” Mr Shettima stated.
Mr Shettima said the unveiling of a blueprint for Nasarawa’s future was a reaffirmation of the administration’s shared belief that the way forward for the nation lies in solutions fashioned to suit the unique realities of each state.
He regretted what he described as the tragic reality of the ECOWAS region being ranked the lowest in the global Human Capital Development Index.
The Special Adviser to the President on the National Economic Council (NEC) and Climate Change, Rukaiya El-Rufai, said the programme was unveiled in 2018.
She added that the programme aimed to address poverty, foster socio-economic growth, and improve human capital across the country.
(NAN)
