Vice President Kashim Shettima, on Monday, approved the constitution of a multi-sectoral committee to drive the goals of the Human Capital Development (HCD) programme of the federal government.

Mr Shettima constituted the committee after a meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, with the World Bank’s country director for Nigeria, Shubham Chaudhuri.

Also in attendance were the chairman of the Dangote Foundation, Aliko Dangote; founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, Tony Elumelu, and the coordinating minister of health and social welfare, Prof. Ali Pate, among others.

Mr Shettima stressed the need for government and partners to invest in human capital development to create a workforce that was not just globally competitive but also adaptable to the modern demands of the 21st century.

“This gathering marks our collective recommitment to redirecting the promise and potential of our human capital towards safeguarding the economy.

“It’s an honour to host you and I eagerly anticipate celebrating the success of the initiatives uniting us.

“Our presence today signifies a tacit understanding that our future is intricately linked to the development of our human capital.

“We have witnessed the growing shift towards knowledge and service-based economies and the advantages they offer, particularly to our youths.”

He acknowledged the significant impact Messrs Dangote and Elumelu have had on the population.

The vice president noted that every society rises and falls depending on the quality of its leadership.

Earlier, Mr Pate underscored the importance of investing in human resources.

He noted that going forward, stakeholders involved in the Human Capital Development programme of the President Bola Tinubu administration would reinforce and harness existing data.

“This, according to him, will ensure accountability and accuracy in the implementation of programmes and projects under the initiative.

Mr Pate said the renewed efforts at fast-tracking human capital development across different levels and tiers of government, would attract interest from all stakeholders, including international partners and donor organisations.

On his part, Mr Dangote commended the foresight of the vice president in convening the meeting, noting that it underpins the commitment of Mr Tinubu’s administration to address challenges around human capital development.

Mr Dangote, who pledged support for the administration’s HCD programme, called on stakeholders to work diligently towards tackling the challenge of inaccurate data.

He described the situation as the biggest problem in the task of addressing human capital development.

“What we have between us and the Federal Government is all about partnership. We’ve been on this for a very long time.

“We started with the Health Minister, who brought us together, Aliko Dangote Foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. So our own as philanthropist is to partner with the government.

“We will make sure that, yes, they do what is right and also put our money on the table and we are ready to do so.”

Similarly, Mr Elumelu pledged his support for the federal government’s initiatives towards Nigeria’s Human Capital Development.

“The meeting with the vice-president was conveyed to bring critical stakeholders together for human capital development in Nigeria.

“We have a lot of young ones and every year, about three million young people enter the job Market. We need to think about these young people, we need to think about our future as a country.

“We need to prioritise our young ones, we need to develop them to give them economic hope and opportunities so that we can collectively develop and say no to extremism and yes to prosperity.

“I am happy this is happening under this government and I am happy that the vice president called on all of us to support this initiative.”

Also, Mr Chaudhuri pledged the bank’s support for the HCD programme of the federal government in the areas of technical assistance and strengthening of databases.

(NAN)