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Tag: human capital

  • Don: Human capital devt best investment

    Don: Human capital devt best investment

    The Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research, Innovation, and Development, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife, Osun State, Prof. Akanni Akinyemi, has identified investment in human capital development as the greatest investment as it leaves lasting legacy behind.

    Speaking during a ceremony to present 52 students in 13 faculties of the university scholarship valued at N10.4 million by the United States Chapter, Great Ife Alumni Association, at Oduduwa Hall, Prof Akinyemi said poorly trained people would turn out to be a disservice to the entire human race.

    “Supporting human capital development is the best investment anybody can give to the world as the value remains unquantifiable.

     “Poorly trained young people will turn out to be a disservice to humanity and the society in general, hence efforts such as that of Dallas Branch are special and commendable,” Prof Akinyemi said.

    He expressed the gratitude of the university to the Dallas Branch of the OAU Alumni body and urged those who did not benefit to explore the numerous scholarship opportunities out there.

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    The award is the maiden edition of Dallas Scholars Initiative.

    The event had in attendance some top members of the university management led by the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Simeon Bamire.

    Speaking on the objective of the initiative, the President of the US Chapter of the Alumni Association, Adeolu Esho said the ‘Dallas Project’ is a give-back and support for their beloved alma mater targeted and was designed to aid indigent students.

    Esho said he was co-opted by Dallas Branch President to serve on the Scholarship Award Committee.

    Providing insights on the criteria for the selection process, he said: “We commenced the process in August 2023 and the beneficiaries were selected based on set criteria ranging from their outstanding academic performance, fascinating application and strict adherence to the laid down instructions, justification of financial needs, personal branding ability and the quality of their written essay.”

    Also speaking on the occasion, President of the Awarding Branch, Great Ife Alumni Association, Dallas, Dr. Tunde Adeyemo, said: “Many of our members in the Dallas Branch identify with the struggles of the younger students who are pursuing their education at OAU at a critical time like this. We understand that there are many students who, though exceptionally brilliant, may need some help financially to make it through their degrees programmes. We were here and still understand the peculiar challenges.”

    Dr. Adeyemo said the beneficiaries of the scholarship award are to be tagged “Dallas Scholars” and are expected to be good ambassadors of the Dallas OAU Alumni branch. “We will give out scholarships every academic session to indigent students who are diligent and who excel academically” he pledged.

    Dr. Adeyemo commended the 52 scholarship awardees, urging them to consider themselves lucky among the over 35,000 students populace of the university. He cited various projects the Association has executed to support OAU in the past.

    “Our commitment to our alma mater and different interventions is to ease the burden of both infrastructural provisions and human capital needs of our beloved university. For example our Dallas Branch championed the perimeter fencing of Angola Hall of Residence and the donation of equipment for speedy processing transcripts, among other projects,” he saidd.

    It would be recalled that in 2022, the Dallas Branch donated $10,000,000

    to the Maternal and Reproductive Health Research Collective of the University of Lagos Teaching Hospital, (LUTH) Idi Araba, as part of measures aimed at providing humanitarian service and medical support for the Save Our Red Cells otherwise referred to as Sickle-Cell Warriors.

    A Lagos based member of the Dallas Alumni Branch, Evangelist Adekunbi Akin-Taylor, expressed satisfaction at the presentation of the scholarship certificates to the beneficiaries after a very thorough process.

    She commended the visionary leadership of Dr Adeyemo and Esho.

    In his address on the occasion, Prof. Bamire expressed appreciation to the Dallas Chapter for the scholarship support and the overall contribution of the alumni towards the growth, development, sustainability and maintenance of the values and standards for which the institution is revered among the committee of foremost universities in Africa while urging the beneficiaries to emulate the donors in future.

    He said: “We are most grateful for the good work and efforts of different alumni branches across the world especially like Dallas Branch, it is unimaginable the effect on any student dropping out of the University due to the challenges of funding that is the more reason why interventions such as Dallas Scholars initiative is unquantifiable and the University remains most grateful for their goodwill.”

    One of the beneficiaries, Tadese Ayodele Stephen, a 500 Level Dentistry student who initially doubted the process since the application began in 2023, expressed his delight and the timely intervention at such a very challenging economic situation. “I came across the scholarship offer online as the registration process wasn’t tedious, I had my reservations but when I got the message that I am one of the recipients of the scholarship award, I was surprised because the application was almost six month long,” he said. Tadese thanked the branch for the initiative while stating that the gesture will further serve as a morale booster for him in his academic quest.

    Sobanke Oluwadoyinsola, a 300 level student of Medicine and Surgery, expressed profound appreciation to the Dallas alumni body.

    “To be very honest, when I saw the requirements, I was a bit discouraged because I wasn’t really sure if I could write a very persuasive personal statement of justification. I just decided to give it a try and fortunately it turned out positively,” she said, adding that she would do everything right to be a good ambassador of the Dallas Scholars.

  • Banks seek more investments in FinTech, human capital

    Commercial banks have been advised to make more investments in financial technology (FinTech) and the relevant specialised human capital for the growth of the financial system.

    Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), President, Uche Olowu who gave the advice at the institute’s investiture in Lagos,  said  investment in specialised human capital is, particularly, significant given the domination of technological solutions, which are taking over human jobs.

    According to a report by the McKinsey Global Institute, 60 per cent of all occupations have at least 30 per cent of activities that are technically automated. Furthermore, the report states that roughly one-fifth of the global workforce will be impacted by the adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and automation and by 2030, it is estimated that robots will replace 800 million workers across the world. The World Economic Forum, further projects that by 2055, nearly half of all work in all occupations would be automated.

    Additionally, the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) states that the effects of automation would not only alter the jobs available to humans but also the perceived value of these jobs.

    “It is also pertinent to mention that the increasing competition in the digitised banking environment would no longer be between banks but with non-banking institutions,’’ he said.

    FinTech and big tech firms such as Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple are now capturing more of the banking value chain.  Furthermore, payment service banking is set to further disrupt the banking industry. For example, as at July 2019, telecoms such as MTN and Airtel Nigeria had been granted licenses by the Central Bank of Nigeria. PwC suggests that from 2025 to 2035, a market economy would readily exist without traditional banks,” he said.

    Olowu said that any bank staff who wishes to survive and thrive within the industry over the next 10 to 20 years must adapt and become relevant to the future of banking.

    “Indeed professionals and would-be banking professionals must reposition themselves for relevance in the changing environment. Such statistics as stated above confirm that in the future workplace, we may not be competing for jobs with other humans but with robots,” he said.

    Continuing, he said that in the age of digitisation it is important to stay relevant regardless of the cadre of employment you fall under. “Banking professionals must consistently keep in touch with current trends in their field of expertise and the impact such trends would have on your job role. Aspiring bankers are also expected to gain a full understanding of the emerging technical skills sought after in the industry. Constantly keeping tabs on trends and required skills would increase your value professionally and in turn your relevance,” he added.

    The Guest Speaker and Managing Director/CEO, Ecobank Nigeria, Patrick Akinwuntan, said that financial institutions are faced with growing technological changes and have had to respond through the adoption of and adaptation to potentially disruptive technologies in their business models and in their broad corporate strategies. This is all in a bid to remain relevant, increase convenience and productivity and make banking simple for individuals and businesses alike.

    He said the banking sector has undergone some changes,  will undergo added disruption. “Yesterday, we had nothing like the digital apps in use today, tomorrow we are certain of further disruption underlined by artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics, big data analytics among others,” he said.

    “To reposition in a competitive environment, you must evaluate and understand the trends that would impact the industry now and into the future. Are these trends positive or otherwise? Are the impacting trends long or short term? Are they irreversible or not? Additionally, one must also be clear on what is relevant to the market, be clear on market outcomes and constantly evaluate these outcomes. We note that repositioning decisions hold positive or negative outcomes with regards to personal and vocational value,” he said.

  • DFID to Nigeria: invest more in human capital

    The United Kingdom (UK) Department for International Development (DFID), has advised the country to invest in human capital, if it must attain greatness.

    DFID Nigeria Head, Mrs. Debbie Palmer said this at the induction ceremony for new and returning governors organised by the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) in Abuja.

    Palmer said Nigeria’s population had always been a huge asset and path to its greatness, but for her to attain its greatness and to take its place in the comity of nations by 2050, “she will need to turn things around”.

    “We will need to invest in people, who will drive the economy of the country in the future. We need to nourish, educate and give the young population jobs, including the children that will be born in next few days, weeks and months.”

    Palmer said these determine a country’s future hence, there is a lot to do and it required urgent works.

    She also said Nigeria’s economic growth could be achieved by harnessing the potential of her population and that required hard infrastructure like roads and power.

    “It also requires a great deal of soft infrastructure, what we may call human capital,’’ she added.

    Palmer recalled that in the current human capital index, Nigeria was on number 152 out of 157 countries, and also had the highest number of out of school children in the world.

    “In order for the country to move to greatness, we need to nourish educated young people, who can take up work to create jobs for themselves, the families, societies and the nation.

    “Presently, Nigeria spends less on health proportionally than South Sudan, less than any country in the world,’’ she noted.

     

    Palmer said that the UK Government was determined to work with Nigeria to reduce poverty and promote prosperity.

    “Nigeria is our second investment globally. We gave nearly half a billion pounds to this country last year. And we will continue to work with you in partnership,’’ she said.

    She advised the governors-elect to deliver on their campaign promises now that elections were over.

  • ‘Human capital devt critical for growth’

    XPOS Technologies Executive Director, Adeoye Abodunrin has made the case for investing in people, saying it has a strong correlation with economic growth.

    Speaking during his induction as Fellow of the Institute of Management Consulting in Lagos, Abodunrin noted that the correlation will grow even stronger as the dynamic business environment require quality human capital to address emerging organisational challenges.

    He said the massive migration of talented Nigerians out of the country has impacted on the performance of different sectors of the economy, especially the public sector.

    He said: ”We are still an economy that relies on a lot of foreign human capital. When you call for an interview, starting from the low-level positions and the topmost positions, you have deficiencies in local human capital. You don’t have too many people, who have the knowledge, expertise, experience, skills, ability, and understanding of the techniques that make a business successful.

    Read also: We are committed to human capital growth, says group

    “As an economy, we don’t have enough of it. Our educational system is in comatose; in offices, the handing over of skills set is poor. People are more concerned about survival. The brain drain is happening because of the Canadian migration programme, people are leaving the country in droves because talents will always move from a region of lower appreciation to a region of higher appreciation.”

    He advised President Muhammadu Buhari to, as a matter of urgency,  choose capable cabinet members that will be able to turn the economy around.

    Adeoye, who is the pioneer Director, Brand Value Management & Enterprise Project Management Office, Insight Communications said cross-cultural competencies, where the best of all the regions must be assembled, should be created for maximal development instead of the president choosing  major appointment from a particular region.

  • ‘Human capital devt critical for growth’

    XPOS Technologies Executive Director, Adeoye Abodunrin has  made the case for investing in people, saying it has a strong correlation with economic growth.

    Speaking during his induction as Fellow of the Institute of Management Consulting in Lagos, Abodunrin noted that the correlation will grow even stronger as the dynamic business environment require  quality human capital to address emerging organisational challenges.

    He said the massive migration of talented Nigerians out of the country has impacted on the performance of different sectors of the economy, especially the public sector.

    He said: ”We are still an economy that relies on a lot of foreign human capital. When you call for an interview, starting from the low-level positions and the topmost positions, you have deficiencies in local human capital. You don’t have too many people, who have the knowledge, expertise, experience, skills, ability, and understanding of the techniques that make a business successful.

    “As an economy, we don’t have enough of it. Our educational system is in comatose; in offices, the handing over of skills set is poor. People are more concerned about survival. The brain drain is happening because of the Canadian migration programme, people are leaving the country in droves because talents will always move from a region of lower appreciation to a region of higher appreciation.”

    He advised President Muhammadu Buhari to, as a matter of urgency,  choose capable cabinet members that will be able to turn the economy around.

    Adeoye, who is the pioneer Director, Brand Value Management & Enterprise Project Management Office, Insight Communications said cross-cultural competencies, where the best of all the regions must be assembled, should be created for maximal development instead of the president choosing  major appointment from a particular region.

  • We are committed to human capital growth, says group

    The Oil and Gas Trainers Association of Nigeria (OGTAN) has said it is committed to human capital development in Nigeria’s oil and industry to maximise value from the industry.

    Its President,  Dr Mayowa Afe, who stated this at the Association’s pre-conference briefing in Lagos, noted that with the absence of substantial investment in human capital development of  in any country,  sustained economic growth and development will only be a mere wish.

    He said: “Human capital development is a key prerequisite for a country’s socio-economic and political transformation. Among the generally agreed causal factors responsible for the impressive performance of the economy of most  developed countries is an impressive commitment to human capital development.”

    According to him, the lack of adequate human capital development in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector necessitated the theme of the forthcoming OGTAN annual international conference entitled: “Human capital development as a driver for national transformation,” scheduled for April 14-16, Eko Hotels, Lagos.

    Human capital development, Afe said, is undoubtedly the pivot for any meaningful programme of economic development for Nigeria and indeed, any country, adding that practitioners and social researchers understand the essence of human capital development in the achievement of significant and sustainable economic growth.

    Afe said: “Petroleum sector contributes the highest revenue to Nigeria’s GDP, but suffers a dearth of skilled personnel for sophisticated roles as the traditional educational curriculum hasn’t sufficiently accommodated the demands of the highly-skilled industry.

    “Part of the objectives of OGTAN has been to identify ways by which Nigeria’s human capital can be improved via training and retraining in order to significantly contribute to the growth of in-country value retention in the oil and gas sector, which leads to enhancing peoples’ livelihoods and overall quality of life. These indicators translate to positive impact on nation building and national development.

    “At this second annual conference, discussions shall revolve around sub themes like: Unlocking Nigeria’s potential through comprehensive human capital development; management and integration of human capital for Africa’s development; technology and knowledge transfer through international collaboration; the role of government and private sector; and development of Africa’s certification and standardisation scheme: possibilities.”

    The OGTAN chief said the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) has projected that $14 billion out of the $20 billion spent yearly in the oil and gas industry would be retained in Nigeria by 2027 and OGTAN will work with the Content Board to achieve that target.

    He said the human capital development is at the core of the 10-year strategic plan of NCDMB, adding that Nigeria’s oil and gas sector will be a catalyst for the industrialisation of the Nigerian oil and gas industry and its linkage sectors in the next 10 years.

    According to him, the 10-year strategic plan will Increase local content level in the oil and gas industry from 26 per cent to 70 per cent by 2027 and also double the value domiciled in the Nigerian oil and gas industry.

    He said research and development (R&D) is the backbone of a globally competitive, knowledge-driven economy, adding that investment in R&D helps develop new products and services that drive growth, create jobs and improve the national welfare. He called for more collaboration between the academia and the oil and gas industry on research, to attract investments into country.

  • ASSBIFI: human capital critical to development

    The Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI) has urged the Federal Government to implement policies that would boost human capital development to upscale Human Resource (HR) and Information Communication Technology (ICT) practitioners.

    Its President, Comrade Oyinkan Olasanoye, said until Artificial Intelligence (AI) is developed, human capital is needed to accomplish anything in the world of today, stressing that it takes human capital to create any other form of capital.

    She maintained that while machine may eliminate the need to have hundreds of production workers, it only takes human capital to design and build the machine.

    “We call on the Federal Government to implement policies that would boost human capital wealth in order to upscale HR and ICT practitioners.

    “This is because as we as a nation move deeper and deeper into a knowledge-based economy that depends on information, knowledge and high-level skills, human capital is becoming increasingly important,” Olasanoye said.

    She said training is a continuous capacity building potential for members.

  • ‘I’m glad our human capital investment drive has succeeded’

    Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola has said his mission to operate a people-friendly government, apart from an elite-friendly one, was borne out of the desire to care for the less privileged in the society.

    He said the successes his administration recorded in human development enabled it to fully entrench his Six-Point Integral Action Plan in the state.

    Aregbesola spoke yesterday in Osogbo, the state capital, during an interactive session with social media influencers in Nigeria.

    The governor noted that the significant contribution of the Osun Youth Empowerment Scheme (OYES), the school feeding programme and other laudable interventions helped to put the state on progressive pedestal.

    He expressed delight at the restoration of the Omoluabi ethos in the system.

    Aregbesola said this provided a long lasting symbol for the state.

    He said: “We sought from the onset to build a people-friendly government against that of minority elite. The society will be at peace if the people are well cared for. That is what we have done in Osun. My political interest is to reduce the inequality in human life. This has been my vision since my political consciousness from age nine in primary three. Human capital development is what I can say I am proud of.

    “Our greatest achievement is the implantation of the Omoluabi ethos we have instituted in our state. Most of our programmes, especially in social intervention, are geared towards that. Human capital development through Omoluabi philosophy is the greatest programme our government has initiated.”

    “I am happy that our time in government has put our state in a situation of development that will stand for the next half a century. This, of course, will outlive me. I am also happy for that.

    “When you talk of the misery, unemployment and the poverty index, we are not doing badly either. We have come a long way in becoming the second state with the lowest unemployment rate in the country.”

  • How to boost human capital, by World Bank

    The World Bank Group yesterday advised Nigeria to invest more in health and education to strengthen human capital development.

    Its President, Jim Yong Kim, said at the opening ceremony of the World Bank/International Monetary Fund (IMF) Spring Meetings in Washington D.C, that the bank would release an index to rank countries according to how much they invest in human capital of the next generation.

    The measurement, he said, would provide information that Heads of State and finance ministers need to know in order to invest in building human capital. The index will make those measurements hard to ignore.

    Kim said: “There is no getting away from the need to invest much more effectively in health and education. And I think, you know, if you look at all of the difficulties in terms of increasing their resources for hard infrastructure, things like roads and energy, and also the need to increase investments in human capital, every African country has to look much more seriously at how it improves its own domestic resource mobilisation.

    “So in other words, they should be better at collecting taxes to provide the basic services.  We think countries should collect at least 15 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in taxes.”

    Kim said the global economy was solid, adding that it is expected to rise to 3.1 per cent in 2018, which would be its strongest performance since 2011. The growth, he said, would be driven by recovery in investment, manufacturing, and as commodity-exporting developing economies benefit from firming commodity prices.

    He said the challenge would be how to ensure that strong growth translates into inclusive growth, so that the benefits of global economic integration are enjoyed by all members of society.

    “This period of robust growth is a great opportunity to invest in human and physical capital. Filling infrastructure gaps, improving education and health outcomes, and increasing female labour force participation could continue to drive growth. If policy makers around the world focus on these key initiatives, they can increase their countries’ productivity, boost workforce participation, and move closer to the goals of ending extreme poverty and increasing shared prosperity,” Kim said.

    He said the bank was dedicated to ending poverty wherever it exists in its client-countries, adding that it is always looking to leverage every available resource to meet its clients’ immense challenges.

    Kim advised African leaders to be focused on their debts and where they were taking the loans from.

    “Be very focused on the conditions, the interest rate, among others.  So that’s one issue that you have to look at very carefully.”

    The bank, he said, was concerned that many African countries were not prepared to compete in what is increasingly becoming a digitalised economy.  “We also see lots of evidence that suggest that many of the low skill jobs will be taken over by technology. Now, there’s also tremendous hope for technology.  I think there’s tremendous hope that technology could help some African countries, many African countries we hope, will leapfrog and go forward and find new ways of driving economic growth,” he said.

    He said: “Also, if African countries were to remove fossil fuel subsidies that are often very regressive, in other words, they help the rich more than they help the poor.  Even agriculture subsidies, there are many agricultural subsidies that are also very regressive.  They don’t help the small holder farmers, but they help others in the value chain.  And things like tobacco taxes.  Tobacco taxes have been shown to be very effective at raising revenue and decreasing smoking and can be used to finance all kinds of things”.

    Kim said there were so many things that could be done to help countries invest in physical infrastructure and human capital, but it requires reform and courage.

    “And so I know these kinds of things that I’m talking about are difficult, but please let all the African leaders know that the World Bank Group is ready to help them undertake all those measures,” Kim said.

    On corruption, he said the bank had adopted strict measures to follow every dollar that “we lend to ensure that the dollars we provide are not used for other purposes.  “Now, I think our methods of detecting corruption have gotten better, but corruption still exists everywhere.  And there’s not a country in the world that’s exempted from it.  So we would just simply encourage leaders to work with us and work with the IMF, work with other institutions like ours to improve their approaches to detecting and stamping out corruption,” he said.

    On education, Kim said the bank had been able to learn that it is not just how many years one has been in school, but how much is learned in those years of school.

    According to him, as economies become more digitalised, the relationship between health and educational outcomes is only going to get stronger over time.  “And I so I think it’s time for all countries to really take a hard look at how well they’ve invested in their own people because that is likely going to be the most important determinant of whether they’ll be able to keep up with economic growth,” he said.

    Kim said human capital was not just for children, but also skills programmes for adults.  “The human capital agenda, I think, has been neglected for far too long, and what we have shown in our report that was released a little while ago called The changing wealth of nations is that human capital represents 65 percent of all the wealth in the world.  And we haven’t paid enough attention to it.  So that’s the one message I would focus on,” he said.

    IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said international cooperation was needed to help reduce poverty, adding that countries should step up structured reforms. She urged Nigeria to reduce government deficit and allow more exchange rate flexibility.

    The IMF, she said, would step up surveillance to tackle corruption, adding that the Fund will work within its competence in that area.

    “We will do the most we can in accordance with our economic principles to achieve results,” she said.

  • CIIN deepens collaboration with CII London on human capital

    The Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN) has met with Chartered Insurance Institute (CII), London, United Kingdom (UK) to deepen collaboration on human capital development for insurance.

    Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN) President, Mrs. Funmi Babington-Ashaye, who led the Nigerian delegation to the meeting, said both bodies met last week at the London office of the CII to advance discussion on building stronger relationship, knowledge sharing and best practice.

    According to her, the team was received by CII Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Sian Fisher, Chief Operating Officer John Bissell and  strategic adviser to the CEO of CII, Carmen Powell.

    She said both bodies would also work together to engender human capital development and education for the benefit of the industry.

    She said:“Collaboration towards building required human capital that will remain relevant and contribute to the emerging developments in the global insurance market has received a boost, following a strategic meeting between the CIIN and the CII, London.

    “After presentations by both bodies, we agreed on areas of collaboration that will enable the CIIN explore options and suggestions from CII London in order to get exemptions at Advanced Diploma level of the CII London examinations and earn maximum credit points.

    “Also agreed to be considered was collaboration for M.Sc. Insurance and Risk Management with the University of Lagos, where there will be exchange of already prepared curriculum so that the programme can be considered for exemptions by CII London.

    “The meeting also agreed to look at recognising the Centre for Insurance and Financial Management (CIFM) as an institution of prior learning. Other areas of collaboration include resuscitation of staff exchange programme to enhance capacity building, as well as run CII certification programmes and train the trainers at the CIFM.”

    She further stated that the CII after the meeting promised to send the CIIN a response to all the agreed areas of collaboration after due consideration by its board.

    She noted that Powell, during his presentation gave a snapshot of CII operations in Nigeria, saying the UK body has only 145 members in Nigeria, which included 63 Associates and 19 Fellows.

    “The institute, however, acknowledged that it had limited interactions with the regulator, students, affiliate institutes, educational organistions and corporate bodies in Nigeria.

    “For him, it is imperative that CII works together with the CIIN to grow membership in Nigeria since it had decided that Africa was key to its successful international operations. The CII seeks to double its 13,000 overseas membership quickly,” she said.