VP Shettima promotes Nigeria’s Human Capital Development

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

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

Vice-President Shettima, speaking at a virtual high-level roundtable on the sidelines of the 2025 World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings, said the success of HCD 2.0 would hinge on data-driven, evidence-based interventions and sustained political will.

The HCD 2.0 programme is designed to elevate Nigeria’s Human Capital Index (HCI) and equip Nigeria to face national and global challenges, including climate change and digital transformation.

Stanley Nkwocha, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Communications, Office of the Vice-President, said in a statement that Vice-President Shettima pointed out that the meeting was necessitated by the urgency to invest in the Nigerian people and create wealth.

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

The session featured key stakeholders from the World Bank, including Executive Director, Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed; Regional Director for Human Development in the Western and Central Africa, Trina Haque; Senior Social Protection Specialist and Regional Task Team Leader, Africa West & Central region, Tina George, and Chief Economist for Human Development in the World Bank Group, Norbert Shady.

The Nigerian delegation included the Deputy Chief of Staff to the President/ Chair of the HCD Core Working Group, Senator Ibrahim Hassan Hadejia, and Special Adviser to the President on National Economic Council & Climate Change/National Coordinator of HCD programme, Rukaiya El-Rufai.

Priority indicators

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 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.

“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.” he said.

The Vice-President 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.

Editing by Muzha Kucha, Adeniyi Bakare and Tony Okerafor