Habiba Balarabe-Suleiman, Director General, Nasarawa State Health Agency.
By Collins Chetuni
The Nasarawa State Human Capital Development Agency, have called on stakeholders across the 13 Local Government Areas of the state to join hands with the agency to improve the healthcare and education standards for the residents.
The Director General of the Agency, Habiba Balarabe-Suleiman, made the call recently shortly after the HCD and Data Advocacy Roundtable Discussion in the Nassarawa-Eggon and Doma LGAs of the state.
She explained that the objectives of the roundtable was to address the complex issues surrounding Human Capital Development, discuss the policy frameworks, engage diverse stakeholders on the six thematic areas of the state’s HCD agency and promote inclusivity in development initiatives.
The DG narrated that the African continent over the years had continued to lag in HCD compared to other regions in the world due to a plethora of challenges which are more pronounced in vulnerable populations and regions experiencing conflict or fragility.
She, therefore, said sustained collaborative efforts were needed to accelerate Human Capital Development in Nigeria and other parts of Africa, adding that a pathway to achieving it is through advocacy.
Balarabe-Suleiman further urged the stakeholders to key into the HCD agency’s agenda so as to accelerate development in the state as well as ensure that all citizens achieve their full potentials.
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While expressing gratitude to the Africa Human Capital Development Plus for funding the project, Balarabe-Suleiman mentioned the six thematic areas of the state’s HCD Agency to include Health and Nutrition; Education; Labour Force Participation; Youth; Social Development; and Local Government and Community Development.
“For each of our six thematic areas, we have objectives that speaks to the issues at hand which is hindering 100 per cent optimal performance of these thematic areas, and we are hopeful that with our deliberate efforts to neutralize these challenges, the growth and development of the economy will be accelerated.
“We are also hopeful that through the Human Capital Development, we will have many people who are better educated and healthier by the year 2030,” she added.
Speaking on behalf of the people of Nassarawa-Eggon LGA, the Youth Leader of the area, Abdullahi Abimiku Ibrahim, expressed gratitude to the Nasarawa state government for organising the stakeholders engagement, adding that they learnt a lot concerning the efforts of the HCD agency in its six thematic areas.
“Before now, we did not know the good plans and agendas that the Nasarawa State government has for the youths and the other residents through the Human Capital Development Agency. But we now know these great plans, and we would want to say that we are happy to be part of the roundtable discussion,” he said.
On his part, the Sardaunan Doma, a traditional title holder in the Doma LGA, Musa Usman Addra, while thanking the HCD Agency for the programme, said he would ensure to educate his people about all that he learnt during the roundtable discussion in order to ensure the rapid growth and development of the area.
Our correspondent reports that stakeholders at the roundtable called for all hands to be on deck to support the state’s HCD Agency to achieve its aims and objectives, while emphasizing the need for increased advocacy on the issues of poor healthcare, poor education standards, youth restiveness, among others.
