Zainab Ahmed: Nigeria’s low human capital development ranking depressing

Zainab Ahmed, the minister of finance, says Nigeria’s spot on the Human Capital Development ranking released by the World Bank is depressing.

The newly-appointed minister expressed her views while speaking with journalists on Sunday at a press conference to mark the end of the 2018 annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Group.

The World Bank had ranked Nigeria 152 out of 157 on its Human Capital Index launched at the week-long meeting.

“On the presentation of ‘Human Capital Development Index’ by the World Bank where Nigeria was ranked low – 44% on stunting and some other lows recorded against us. While these results are disheartening and depressing, we are nevertheless discouraged rather we see this as a wake-up call,” she told journalists in Bali.

“We admit that this pervasive action was due to long years of under-investment in human capital, which we have before now realised and for which we have been addressing.

“Apart from major policy actions, some decisive actions are being taken to address the situation.”

According to Ahmed, the federal government plans to raise $2.8 billion from debt instruments before the end of 2018.

This, she said, will be used to fund the deficit in the 2018 budget.

In March, Bill Gates, co-founder Bill and Melinda Foundation, had raised this same issue with the Nigerian government, stating the need for investments in human capital.

“The Nigerian government’s economic recovery and growth plan identify investing in our people as one of three strategic objectives. But the execution priorities don’t fully reflect people’s needs, prioritizing physical capital over human capital.

“To anchor the economy over the long term, investments in infrastructure and competitiveness must go hand in hand with investments in people.”