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Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), Ahmed Kuru has called on Nigerians for increased attention to human capital development, science & technology as a way of moving economy away from a resource-based economy to knowledge-based economy.
Kuru, who was Guest Speaker at the 2018 Institute of Directors (IoD) Fellows’ Luncheon held in Lagos in a paper titled “Determinants Of Growth In Transition Economies…” said it was heartwarming to know that the present President Muhammadu Buhari led-government is thinking diversification, which would ultimately launch Nigeria on the path of economic growth.
He said it was a shame that Nigeria has remained where it is today because of some bad decisions of the past, which denied Nigeria the desired economic growth. He however expressed optimism that Nigeria as a nation with enormous human and natural resources can still make haste and progress from being a third world country to a 2nd and even 1st world country in the not too distant given the right political, social and economic decisions.
Kuru said, “It is good to know that the government has made science and technology a key part of the National Economic Recovery Growth Plan (ERGP), which underscores moving the Nigerian economy away from a resource-based to a knowledge-based model.”
But before Nigeria can leverage this to emerge a strong economy among the comity of nations, the AMCON boss said there was need to discard the negative vices that the country has cemented in its political and social life and adapt the development templates as well as experiences of other countries around the world that have successfully used such models to change the narratives of their economies. He argued that some of the countries we look up to today as first world countries, decades back, were either worse off than Nigeria or at about the same level with Nigeria.
Again he said, “Broadly speaking, from the experiences of advanced countries including the United States, China, Britain, Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, Singapore to those closer to us like Brazil, Russia, South Africa, what stands as reason or anchors for their progress is simply a commitment to some defined drivers of growth i.e. human capital development, innovation, technology, strong institutions, democracy (freedom of choice) and governance. The two most important determinants are good governance and human capital development.”
Expatiating further how human capital can play key role in the economic development for Nigeria, Kuru said, countries that have made sustained progress have invested heavily in enhancing the stock of skills of its labor force by prioritizing early childhood quality education, training and provision of health care because investing in human capital raises productivity of workers due to upgraded skills and better education, empowers them with capacity for new ideas and innovations.
Again he said, “The concept of human capital is even more important for labour-surplus countries. These countries are naturally endowed with surplus labour due to high birth rate. For example, the surplus labour in China, India, Brazil and Nigeria far outweigh the physical capital such as machinery, plant and equipment. This human resource can be transformed into human capital via education, training, and improved health care delivery.”
