Vice-President Kashim Shettima has called for stronger international collaboration to advance Nigeria’s Human Capital Development 2.0 (HCD 2.0) strategy.

Mr Shettima made the call virtually at a high-level roundtable on the sidelines of the 2025 World Bank/International Monitory Fund Spring Meetings.

HCD 2.0 programme is designed to elevate Nigeria’s Human Capital Index (HCI).

It will equip Nigeria to face both national and global challenges, including climate change and digital transformation.

The vice-president stated that the success of HCD 2.0 would hinge on data-driven, evidence-based interventions and sustained political will.

He reaffirmed the commitment of President Bola Tinubu’s administration to positioning human potential at the heart of national development.

He pointed out that the meeting was necessitated by the urgency to invest in the Nigerian people and by the recognition that true national wealth was found not in natural resources, but in human potential.

”This meeting, for us, is not just another item on our global agenda. It is a continuation of a journey whose beginnings I had the privilege of witnessing about seven years ago.

”True national wealth is found not in natural resources, but in human potential.

“We will offer our HCD 2.0 Strategy the political backing it deserves to be the priority of our nation, and Tinubu has never wavered on this,” he said.

Mr Shettima reiterated the federal government’s determination to ensure the continuity and deepening of the HCD agenda.

“Government is a continuum. Nowhere is this truer than in programmes that demand patience, vision, and long-term commitment—programmes such as our Human Capital Development programme,” he said.

The vice-president revealed that under HCD 2.0, six priority indicators from the health, education, and labour force sectors have been selected as “quick wins” to guide policy interventions and track measurable progress.

“We have carefully curated priority indicators and an HCD Dashboard to track them.

”This allows us to make informed policy decisions and measure our progress against tangible benchmarks,” Mr Shettima said.

The vice-president also reaffirmed the administration’s resolve to remain transparent and results-oriented to achieve measurable outcomes.

“We will continue to hold ourselves accountable and press forward toward our bold goal to elevate Nigeria among the top 80 countries in Human Capital Index rankings,” he said.

Mr Shettima also called on the World Bank and other development partners to support the availability of disaggregated, state-level Human Capital Index (HCI) data to enable more targeted interventions.

He stressed the need for equity and inclusiveness in implementing the HCD 2.0 strategy.

Mr Shettima said, ” We are leaving no sub-national in Nigeria behind. Some of the states have already set a template for the others, having localised the HCD strategies to align with the peculiarities of their people.

”While, of course, aligning them with the national strategy.” 

(NAN)