Nigeria shifts human capital drive to state-level data, NHCDP seeks media collaboration

The National Coordinator of the National Human Capital Development Programme, Rukaiya el-Rufai, has said the programme is moving from a broad national direction to measurable outcomes driven by state-level data.

Presenting to journalists, el-Rufai said the programme’s work is guided by data, backed by an in-house data and analytics team and regional sessions with states grouped in blocks.

The NHCD National Coordinator said outcomes are sharply polarised between the North and South, which shows that no single approach fits every state.

Under the national framework, she said, each state generates its own data, identifies its own priorities and produces its own plan, with a guide from the programme and a focal person in each state. Some states are performing well, she said, while others lag.

She said the programme took this to the World Bank in Spain last year, pushing for a breakdown of the Bank’s human capital measure to allow state-by-state tracking.

El-Rufai said the second phase of the programme (2.0) has expanded its platforms. According to her, private sector partners have been organised around sustainability, and a champions forum of researchers, digital leaders and advocates has been created but is yet to be activated.

She said a core working group, whose secretariat comprises relevant ministers and ministries and global partners, reviews data and makes decisions under the Vice President. The programme, she added, is seeking to embed the work in the National Economic Council within the current four-year tenure, to link it to economic productivity.

She cited Imo, Nasarawa and Anambra as states with notable progress saying Nasarawa’s plan stands out for gender mainstreaming, while Imo runs a business-clustering initiative that has created jobs at low cost, citing mushroom farmers who pooled resources to access export markets.

She said Anambra’s plan covers digital skills and youth and vulnerable groups, among others.

She said states are beginning to prioritise human capital in resource allocation, and that reforms under the SFTAS programme now give visibility into how states spend.

All data on the programme’s dashboard comes from the National Bureau of Statistics, she said, covering six indicators, including heat maps of regional hotspots.

El-Rufai said achieving a Human Capital Index score of 0.6 would allow an economy to grow about twice as fast, because of higher productivity.

She said the programme sees itself as a catalyst and enabler rather than an implementer, and that lasting results depend on states and service-delivery agencies owning the agenda and funding education and health in their budgets.

She said the programme has considered asking political parties to sign a compact making human capital a national imperative regardless of who governs, citing Peru as a precedent.

She urged the media to hold politicians to account on human capital development, urging journalists to explore the programme’s website and dashboard, offering a virtual follow-up session, and to sustain public reporting on state-level progress.

Media Consultant to the Programme, Lawan Bukar Maigana urged reporters to put questions on human capital development plans to candidates and officeholders as the election season advances.

He said women still lack access to quality health services, many children are out of school, and most young Nigerians are jobless. He put the number of out-of-school children in the North at about 10.7 million.

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