By ABEL JOHNGOLD ORHERUATA
The Deputy Governor of Delta State, Dcn. (Barr.) Kingsley Burutu Otuaro, has on behalf of the State Government inaugurated its technical committee members on Human Capital Development Council (HCD).
The inauguration was held at the Deputy Governor’s Office, today Tuesday, 28 June, 2022.
While inaugurating the Council, Otuaro disclosed that members of the Council were drawn from amongst top government functionaries in the relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) with oversight of the three thematic areas of the Human Capital Development (HCD) Program, namely; Education, Health, unemployment as well as labour production in the State.
The Delta State Deputy Governor noted that the human capital development was a global effort to accelerate more and better investments in people for greater equity and economic growth.
He said it was another avenue to improve human capital development, which would help to engender a society in which our people were productive, gainfully employed, healthy with access to quality education and good nutrition.
According to Otuaro, “the Council is to be chaired by Mrs. Amromanoh Martina, Director, Overseas Development Assistance Department, Delta State Ministry of Economic Planning, with the mandate to ensure the effective coordination and implementation of Human Capital Development Intervention in Delta State as defined in the National Human Capital Development Plan.
Otuaro encouraged the Council to promptly direct the desk officers that will be saddled with the immediate task of developing a comprehensive plan that will indicate various interventions to be made by the State towards achieving the objective of the HCD strategy.
Speaking during the inauguration, the State Commissioner for Economic Planning Dr. Barry Pere Gbe, stated that the National Human Capital Development Program was launched few years ago at the National level, but COVID-19 delayed it’s stemming down in the State.
He said “there’s need for the State to key into the National efforts at growing the indices for measuring development in Nigeria which is the Human Capital Development indices and to do that there’s need to get the Baseline Data.
“Baseline Data are the data on education, unemployment and labour and Health. The Committee will go out to the field to get the Baseline Data for the Council to submit”.
While stating that foreign partners was yet to put the right Global Rating for African countries, the Delta State Commissioner for Economic Planning noted that the baseline data was with a view to stemming the declining Human Development Indices through enhanced investments that will translate to the evolution of healthy, educated and productive Nigerians for a globally competitive nation..
In her remarks, the Chairman of the Committee, Mrs. Amromanoh Martina, commended the Deputy Governor of Delta State for approving the constitution of the State HCD Council in consonance with the State passion towards achieving accelerated development for Delta State.
Amromanoh pledged that the Committee would do it’s best to run with the other States of the Federation that has long been inaugurated