OFFICE OF THE VICE PRESIDENT
PRESS RELEASE
NIGERIA’S GROWTH LIES MORE IN THE PEOPLE, THAN OIL & GAS, SAYS VP OSINBAJO
*FG, States collaborating to get over 10m out-of-school into classrooms

*About N200B UBEC funds available this year

* How Buhari administration is driving State, LG governments to take basic education more seriously

“…we have with the collaboration of State governments, undertaken an ambitious programme to get the over 10 million out-of-school children into schools. This will be helped by the President’s June 20 declaration. It is a complex process requiring the full cooperation of State governments and religious authorities as well as the resources to build schools, equip them properly and train the required number of teachers. Our school feeding programme is already leading to improved enrollment and the N-Power programme can be a source of the initial requirement for teachers. We found that it is not so difficult to train. The N-Power teachers have a tablet like this, they have training materials on it.”

“…it comes to reason that with its huge population, Nigeria’s growth potential lies more in its people than in oil and gas. The examples of India, China and Indonesia, also show the growth possibilities if we get human capital right. So really at the root of the problems of development that we have, is human capital.”

FULL TEXT OF THE VICE PRESIDENT'S SPEECH AT THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF REUNION SYMPOSIUM OF UNIVERSITY OF IFE’S ECONOMICS CLASS OF 1979, HELD AT MUSON CENTRE, LAGOS ON THE 5TH OF JULY, 2019.

PROTOCOL

I have been asked to speak on Human Capital Development, I will be focusing as you will see in my presentation, on basic education which I think in some sense, is fundamental to what could be seen at the other level of education.

I am very honoured to have been invited to share this special occasion of the 40th anniversary of your graduation from the University of Ife and now Obafemi Awolowo University, with you. 40 years since graduation, well you guys are old! But I speak to myself as well, this year marks my 40th year post call as a lawyer. I graduated at the University of Lagos just a year earlier than you but I was in Law school in 1979.

I was in Youth Corps with colleagues such as Ambassador Dipeolu, who is Economic Adviser to the President. But I am especially pleased to have this opportunity to share thoughts with a room full of my successful peers, professionals; men and women of commerce who studied economics formally and went on to achieve great heights in various professions.

No one needs to restate how important the economist is; it is as I am sure you will agree, second only to the legal profession (GENERAL LAUGHTER).

But quite seriously, it is the stock of economists that form the pool of talent from which our accountants, bankers, financial experts are mostly drawn. They play an equally important role in framing the discourse on national economic policy, teaching the next generation of economists and in drawing up national development plans and strategies.

I have found, as chair of the National Economic Council and our Economic Management Team, that economists are invaluable. Of course, not only do I have a very strong team of economists to support the work that I do but also, I find that economists are possibly some of the most realistic that we find in our midst most of the time. The reason is that they are usually wrong and initially its discovered that these things are never precise. So, they become humbler, I believe in their approach to life generally. But they provide a most important resource which is, at least, a scientific way in looking at some of the issues and you cannot do without economists when you are thinking of the economy, anyway or thinking of national planning generally.

I was to speak on the broader subject of our plans for Human Capital Development (HCD) in Nigeria. That is a huge topic and I doubt we would achieve much beyond barely scratching the surface. So, I thought this morning might be more usefully spent, focusing on one aspect of HCD so that we can hopefully drill deeper. (Perhaps, we will be able to interact a bit more during the question and answer interactive session) That aspect is education, especially the interface between our national growth objectives and the educational system. And I want to concentrate on basic education; meaning education in the first nine years of a child’s life.

The conventional wisdom is that growth depends on productivity which itself results from getting right the appropriate mix of labour, capital and technology which is human capital. Taking this perspective, it comes to reason that with its huge population, Nigeria’s growth potential lies more in its people than in oil and gas. The examples of India, China and Indonesia, also show the growth possibilities if we get human capital right. So really at the root of the problems of development that we have, is human capital. What is the quality of those that do productive business?

What are the qualities of those who we rely on for economic growth? But what is more compelling is the prospect of being by 2050, (as we are told repeatedly) the world’s third largest country by population without a sound plan for the education of 70% of the population, which is the young people. No, if you don't have a sound plan for the education of 70% of the almost 400 million people that we expect, (as we will be the third largest by population of the world,) then that will be a tragedy indeed.

This is why in addition to the Federal Government’s visible efforts in the real sector, as well as in hard and soft infrastructure, our focus in the next four years would be to lay and implement a relevant and dynamic educational plan for Nigeria. When I say relevant, I mean a plan capable of providing jobs and entrepreneurial skills for an increasingly globally competitive job market. But the challenge we must immediately acknowledge is that the Federal Government’s role in the first nine years of a child’s life is slight. It is primarily the constitutional role of States and local governments. But we (Federal Government) consider the matter of basic education a matter of national emergency, consequently it is the role of the Federal Government to guide, to inspire, to coordinate, co-fund and also co-implement the basic education strategy.

Improved educational outcomes are crucial to our overall strategy to end extreme poverty, reduce inequality and remain in the path of sustainable growth. Everybody talks about poverty. People say oh, Nigeria is now poorer in terms of relative numbers more than India which used to have that large number than ourselves. But the question, of course, is that poverty does not happen overnight, poverty doesn't appear in a year or two years.

In 2012, when the last household study on poverty was done, we were earning the highest in our oil earnings and poverty figures at the time stood at 112 million Nigerians living in extreme poverty. But because we did not take a holistic approach to dealing with the question of poverty, beginning with education and the other indices of human capital development. Of course, the situation worsened and it did not improve. And that is exactly what we get if there is no deliberate plan for improving human capital development.

While the arguments will rage as to just how crucial education is to end extreme poverty, there is no question that illiteracy or lack of access to quality education is very closely associated with poverty.

The UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report and the Education Commission’s Learning Generation Report provide important evidence on the impact of education on an individual’s earnings and economic growth.

The Education Commission which some of us are familiar with is the commission that was established to look at the issue of global poverty and education at the same time.


Teacher experience will be complemented with teaching aids, instructional materials and greater use of technology. Already in N-Power, some 200,000 graduates in the N-Teach programme have tablet devices with instructional materials which they use to structure their lesson plans and teaching. Learning assessments and performance management processes will also be deployed.

Friends, ladies and gentlemen, you and I belong to an idealistic generation. We had and still have great hopes for our nation. We probably have one of the lowest numbers of those who chose to live abroad. Being successful here in Nigeria meant and still means the world to us.

We are forever discussing Nigeria; our chat groups are on fire on every issue. Our nation’s journey may sometimes appear disappointing at various points; indeed, the task of nation-building may sometimes appear recursive, one step forward two backwards. But all you need are a few determined men and women who keep focused until they leave the earth.

The challenge today, especially in human capital development calls for help in thinking and action from all of us. And we are never too old to participate actively in public service; Buhari is 76, Trump is 73, Biden is 76; Nancy Pelosi 79, Bernie Sanders 77, Mahatir Mohammad of Malaysia is 94 years, Michael Pence is 60. How old are you anyway?


Released by
Laolu Akande
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Publicity
Office of the Vice President
6th July 2019

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