World Bank: Nigeria poor on Human Capital Index

The recent World Bank poor rating of Nigeria has been described as a “wake-up call”.

The Finance Minister, Hajiya Zainab Ahmed said the government would not be discouraged by it. She said that the federal government would mobilise more resources to the critical areas of education and health in recognition of the fact that human capital remained the most economically smartest sector to invest.

Her words, “On the new presentation “Human Capital Development Index (HCI) by the World Bank where Nigeria ranked low-44 percent and some other low records against us, while these results are disheartening, and depressing, we see it as a wake-up call.

“We admit that this pervasive action was due to ling years of under-investment in human capital, which we have before now realised and for which we have been addressing.”The Presidential Committee on Revenue Mobilisation may have jettisoned the revenue reporting and remittances template of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, with a new template now underway.

A hint on this was given by the Finance Minister, Hajiya Zainab Ahmed, while addressing the media at the concluding sessions of the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Bali, Indonesia, yesterday.

Hajia Zainab Ahmed President Muhammadu Buhari had set up the committee in the wake of a long-drawn battle between the NNPC and the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) over shortfalls in remittances of oil revenue into the Federation Account.

The controversy had led to a stalemate in FAAC disbursements three months ago. According to the minister, a draft template is currently a subject of negotiation between the parties involved in the controversy.

The new NNPC reporting template, she said, would be more transparent, in terms of income and expenditure. Her words, “Let me tell you what we are doing in terms of more transparency with NNPC reporting. There was a committee that was set up by the president on revenue mobilisation.

“One of the intentions is to ensure that all revenues are reported in a transparent manner. That committee is working to support FAAC and they have agreed on new reporting template for NNPC which is still being negotiated.

“NNPC has reviewed the template and made its input and FAAC has also reviewed the template. It has to be agreed and then NNPC will start reporting in that template. The essence is for NNPC to make its reporting more transparent so that more information will be provided on the revenue that is generated and the cost they have incurred.

“We hope that in the next few weeks it will be concluded and the new reporting will take effect. Reporting has been a concern for the whole of FAAC, both state and federal government.”