The federal government says
contrary to comments made by Bill Gates, co-chairman of the Bill and Melinda
Gates Foundation, human capital development is a priority in its economic
blueprint.
Speaking on Wednesday at the
expanded national economic council meeting, the Microsoft boss had said the
execution plan of the blueprint does not prioritise human capital development.
“The Nigerian government’s
economic recovery and growth plan identifies investing in the people as one of
three strategic objectives,” he had said.
“But the execution priorities
don’t fully reflect the people’s needs, prioritising physical capital over
human capital.”
Udoma Udo Udoma, minister of
budget and national planning, made the federal government’s position known in a
statement signed by Akpandem James, his media aide.
“To demonstrate the commitment of
the government to improving human capital development at the national level,
the federal government has made significant increases in capital allocations in
human capital related sectors in the last three years in spite of dwindling
revenues,” the minister said.
He said the Buhari-led
administration has increased the capital expenditure for health and education.
“In addition, the current
administration has launched a wide-ranging Social Investment Programme which
caters for human development for which a total budgetary allocation of N500
billion has been provided in the 2016 and 2017 budgets as well as the 2018
budget proposals.”
“A close reading of his statement
shows that the point Mr. Gates was making was that the human capital
development should have been explicitly indicated as part of the execution
priorities of the ERGP. This is not the same as saying that the ERGP does not
address human capital development.”
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