ByFaith Awa Maji
Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule, has directed the State’s focal person on Human Capital Development (HCD), Habiba Balarabe Suleiman, to liaise with the Attorney-General and Commissioner of Justice, to initiate a bill to be sent before the Nasarawa State House of Assembly, seeking for the passage of a law establishing the HCD in the State.
Sule gave the directive in his welcome address during a two-day North- Central Human Capital Development regional conference, in Lafia, on Friday.
According to the Governor, the HCD programme, a brainchild of the National Economic Council (NEC), is aimed at repositioning the country on the path of sustainable, accelerated development, increased economic opportunities, social inclusion and improve the living standards and quality of the citizenry.
Sule explained that the conference is in line with the objectives of the NEC to promote investment opportunities and foster synergy as well as develop partnership between the government and the regions, being the critical stakeholders for the socio-economic development of the country.
“I have no doubt that the conference will proffer us with the opportunity to x-ray all the challenges associated with the HCD.
It’s pertinent to state that we have continued to evolve deliberate policies and programmes geared towards our economy, building human capacities, wealth creation and employment generation for our people.
“It’s for this reason that our administration developed what we call our roadmap, which is the Nasarawa Economic Development Strategy (NEDS).
“This encompasses the economic blueprint of Nasarawa State.
“We have also established what we call the Nasarawa State Investment Development Agency in order to serve as the investment vehicle for all the programmes when it comes to the economic development of the State.
“With the establishment of this agency, we have attracted investments from several organisations including Azman Rice, Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc, SaroAfrica and most recently the exploration of the Ebenyi-A oil well in Obi Local Government Area, where oil production will be taking place soon,” he said.
He equally identified challenges associated with certificates and employability, especially with reports from the World Bank suggesting that 70 per cent of those graduating from Nigeria are graduating with certificates but are not employable.
“I think it should be more than 70 per cent.
“These are the problems we are having in this country.
“Our curriculum doesn’t combine theory and practice in order to understand how theory connects with practice.
“This is one of the things we are lacking in Nasarawa State.
“That is why on assumption, we set up a centre to train our people on skills, that way they can come with the certificate and we can give them the practical knowledge.
“I’m happy that we are beginning to graduate students thanks to ITF for this support,” he said.