Economists have urged the Federal Government to create strategies to curb migration of manpower by boosting human capital development for economic growth and stability.
The experts told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Lagos that the strategies were crucial incentives to shore up the economic output of the country.
A Development Economist, Dr Benjamin Omoniyi, said human capital development had the potential to immensely improve economic growth by its contribution to the nation’s income per capita used as basis of comparison between countries of the world.
Omoniyi, Acting Head, Department of Economics, Joseph Ayo Babalola University, Ikeji-Arakeji, Osun, called for the motivation of persons with critical skills through better salaries, to engage in productive activities that might lead to economic growth.
He noted that the Nigerian economy experienced positive contributions between the 60s and 70s due to increased national income based on the availability of well-developed human capital.
“However, by the late 1980s, a decline was recorded at a growth rate of 1.7 per cent.
“These fluctuations are due to the level of performance of human capital in Nigeria.
“There should be availability of well-developed human capital through incentives for some skilled persons.
“These set of people may be specialists such as engineers, scientists, medical doctors, accountants, statisticians, economists, teachers and other professionals whose skills are critical to economic growth and development,’’ Omoniyi said.
The economist also urged the government to expand its investment on innovation, technology, health and education to impact its growing 200 million population.
“More hospitals must be built, more qualified doctors employed and more scientists engaged to conduct research leading to the discovery of drugs to cure and curb the spread of diseases,’’ he said.
Omoniyi also called for the introduction of better sanitation programmes to reduce outbreak of diseases that might affect human capital and inhibit the productive capacity of human resource.
“It is therefore, necessary to put in place recreational facilities to correct the ills that may prevent the development of human capital and put proper machinery into action toward curbing social vices and encourage programmes that will enhance economic growth in Nigeria,’’ he said.
Dr Lukman Oyelami, a Lecturer, Economics Unit, Distance Learning Institute of University of Lagos, identified improved innovation, technology, education and health as preconditions for attaining human capital development.
According to him, the difference between developed countries and under-developed countries behoved on innovation and technology, behind which are people trained to continuously harness non-human resources for development.
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Oyelami said that the country’s current growth rate of 2.4 per cent that puts it as the third largest country in the world by 2050, inevitably made the issue of human capital development a critical issue in our development planning.
“The current United Nations report on population puts the population of Nigeria at 201 million.
“Also, if the population keeps growing at the rate of 2.4 per cent, the country will become third largest country in the world by the year 2050.
“Thus, it is crucial for a country like Nigeria with huge population to invest in human capital development to get maximum benefits,’’ he said.
Oyelami having identified expenditure on education and health as major investments in human capital development, said that national and economic growth required more than mere increasing expenditure in these aforementioned sectors.
“The education sector must be designed to cater for societal needs and national relevance,’’ he said.
