Eid Mubarak! Many thanks to the Third Estate Club of Ilorin for mainstreaming human resources in development discourse as part of the 2014 Sallah Dinner lecture.. Yours sincerely delivered the lecture. In his latest book, MY VISION, Challenges in the Race for Excellence, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashidi Al Maktoum, the Vice President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and constitutional monarch of Dubai observed (and I agree with him) that; “Human beings are the most precious assets of all nations and the most important factors in the progress of countries.
We consider the development of human resources as a gauge for the development of our country.” I searched in vain for some quotable quotes about human resources from Nigeria’s leaders who are currently jostling for political positions. In 2009 there was a dramatic 35% crash in stock prices. There was a mass frenzy to save the market. Trillions of Naira was expended by the CBN to rescue and recapitalize six banks in 2010! In 2014, almost 69 per cent of all candidates that sat for West Africa Examination failed to have 5 credits including English and Mathematics!
Indeed only 31.2 percent (i.e.529, 425,000 out of 1,692,435,000 candidates) had credit pass in 5 subjects including English and Mathematics in the 2014 as against a 36.57 percent in 2013, and 38.81 percent in 2012. This free fall in the value of present and future human resources has not shocked the nation beyond ordinary.
The concluded National Conference of which I was a delegate had 20 sub-committees.I bear witness that the relatively insignificant marginal report on Resource Control of the sub-Committee on Devolution of powers generated more enthusiasm than the reports on say religion or on human resources like Labour, Youth dealing with mass unemployment and mass poverty! Are we saying there is only one resource in Nigeria (oil and gas) and that the problem was how share it or control it through some sharing formulae for oil revenue? According to Minister of Health Dr. Onyebuchi Chukwu, more than 5000 Nigerian trained medical doctors are currently practising in the United States of America! Currently, Nigeria has only 600 paediatricians to care for its over 40 million children compared to the United Kingdom’s over 5,000 for 20 million children. Why must we export doctors when we lack them at home? Why are we earger to control oil revenue and remain indifferent to the New York Times’ report according to which, “America Is Stealing the World’s Doctors” including many Nigerian doctors?The formation of Nigeria’s human capital is of great importance in the coming years if Nigeria wants to be part of the leading economies in 2020.
I agree with Ken Robinson who says; “Human resources are like natural resources; they’re often buried deep. You have to go looking for them, they’re not just lying around on the surface. You have to create the circumstances where they show themselves.” Nigeria’s human resources include great entrepreneurs in trading and manufacturing, transport and commerce. We also have significant critical mass of human resources in politics, Military, Art and Music, Media, Literature, Religion,Sports, International models, Medicine and science and of course in academia as well as traditional institutions. In standard management literature, the real human resources are the working men and women. The strength of the Nigerian working class lies in its big size. Nigeria has an estimated labour force of 57.2 million, which is almost the size of population of Ghana. Nigeria has the potential of having a total workforce of 80 million people if manufacturing sector is revived and if there is full employment as it was in the 70s and 80s and we factor in the huge labour reserve of the informal sector.
One notable strength of Nigeria is its population. With 170 million people we are the 7th most populous on earth. In quantitative terms, our human resources are not buried. 2006 Census figures show that the least populated state is Bayelsa with 1.7 millions, but more in terms of human resources than Guinea-Bissau with population of 1.7 millions, also bigger than Gabon, 1.4 millions and Trinidad and Tobago 1.3 millions. Both Kano (9.4 millions) and Lagos States (9.5 millions) are as big as United Arab Emirates of 9.4 millions, which is the past time of Nigerian bourgeoisie and some labour aristocrats (un)like me. But that’s where comparison ends. In qualitative terms, Nigeria is worse off than these countries in terms human capital development with respect to education, income and general welfare.
According to Human Development Index Nigeria is ranked 156 among 187 countries meaning that Nigeria is considered to have low level of human development.. The National Mass Education Commission, NMEC, just revealed that as many as 64 million Nigerian adults are illiterates!This is a shame turned tragedy. Countries with less endowment like Zimbabwe and Cuba had archived literacy rates of 90.70 and 99. 9 per cent respectively. Why will 13th oil producing nation like Nigeria slides back into mass ignorance and underdevelopment. Lical government edits and state laws must make primary schooling compulsory and criminalize and penalize parents that do not allow their wards to go schools in the 21st century. To appreciate human resource we must motivate the labour which constitutes the great resource.
We must ensure workers are paid well and on time. Pensioners even deserve better deals so as motivate current workforce to resist corruption and motivate them to be productive in the knowledge that there is life after work. It should be noted that delay of salary and pension is the same as wage theft. The national Minimum wage is due for a review next year. The 2010 National Tripartite Committee on National Minimum Wage headed by Justice SMA Belgore GCON recommended that to avoid ad-hoc approach, the minimum wage is supposed to be reviewed every 5years. It is due this year! Time to review this is NOW!
We must also institute a system of reward and discipline to motivate labour for development. I commend President Goodluck Jonathan for the recent national honour award and recognition of the designer of Nigerian Flag, Mr Taiwo Akinkunmi after years of neglect and his employment as a Special Assistant, with a salary for
life. Indeed the President is further encouraged to pay his arrears since 1960 he designed Nigerian flag. We must move from jobless to job- led growth. We must reinvent the real sector of the economy, revive labour intensive industries and get the army of unemployed working. We must improve on productivity. In 1958, late Ahmadu Bello said that “My motto for the new born North is “Work and worship”.
We should not consume what we do not produce; stop exporting what we should add value to.
There are even little critical success factors within our immediate reach. The most precious input factor in productivity is time and time management. We parade highest number of public holidays on earth. Some of these holidays legitimize idleness rather than promoting decent work with respect to rest. How on earth do you declare a free working day to “mark” Democracy Day, a day arbitrarily chosen by one man in office that could even fall on a Monday? Why would children not be in schools on a Monday in the name of democracy? To deepen and defend democracy, we must work and work, read and read, not just idle away. Nigeria works 8 hrs, 5 days a week. But on average, other 19 countries in our preferred club of 20 most developed countries, (come the magic 2020!) work longer hours, 6 days a week. Out of 365 days in a year, Nigeria is at rest for some 120 days. Out of the official 8 hrs, we resume unofficially at 10 am, set to do some unofficial school (children) runs by noon, only to unofficially close shops at 3 pm ostensibly to beat the traffic.
Issa Aremu mni
