W’Bank commits to supporting Nigeria’s human capital development goals

• Published On: 26 April 2025 at 19:22

The World Bank has vowed to strengthen its relationship with Nigeria in order to improve the country's Human Capital Index.

This promise was made during a virtual high-level discussion at the 2025 World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings, where Vice President Kashim Shettima underlined the importance of increased international engagement to advance Nigeria's Human Capital Development 2.0 plan.

This was reported in a statement issued on Saturday by Stanley Nkwocha, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Communications (Office of the Vice President).

During Friday's meeting, the World Bank guaranteed Vice President Shettima of a stronger partnership going forward.

According to the presidential statement, the World Bank has recommended senior-level stakeholder participation in sectors where it is involved.

"The World Bank representatives at the meeting committed to strengthening the bank's partnership with Nigeria to improve the country's Human Capital Index and proposed senior-level stakeholder engagement to identify optimal areas for technical support," according to a statement.

Nigeria's HCD 2.0 initiative aims to increase the Human Capital Index and prepare the country to face both national and global concerns, such as climate change and digital transformation.

The Vice President stated that the conference was motivated by the urgent need to invest in Nigeria's people, underlining that true national wealth is not found in natural resources but in human potential.

"To us, this summit represents more than just another item on our global agenda. It is the continuation of a trip that began around seven years ago, and which I had the honor to observe. True national prosperity is based on human potential rather than natural resources.

"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 promised.

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

Shettima stated that HCD 2.0 prioritizes six important indicators from the health, education, and labor force sectors, which were chosen as "quick wins" to direct policy actions and track 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," according to him.

The vice president also urged the World Bank and other development partners to support the provision of disaggregated, state-level HCI data to enable more targeted actions.