DURING the industrial revolution in Europe and America in the 20th Century, attention was on raw materials to power emerging industries and labour to drive it.
But today, this era has given way to skills and knowledge, which necessitates aggressive approach to human capital development.
Indeed, the wealth of nations, in the 21st Century, is no longer measured by the amount of natural endowment, but the level of knowledge and skills inherent in the human resource of such nation.
Today, a country like India is reaping bountifully from this paradigm shift from machines to human brain.
This shift could not have gone unnoticed by scholars and technocrats in the African continent who are not oblivious of the potentials of a motivated and trained human capital in the continent.
Indeed, promotion of human capital was the kernel of discussion at this year’s public lecture organised by the London School of Economics (LSE), Alumni Association of Nigeria, held recently in Lagos.
At the lecture with the theme “Developing Africa’s human capital: The Multiplier Effect.” Eminent scholars and boardroom players were unanimous in agreeing that massive investment in training and development remained the quickest route to improving human capital.
While they bemoan dearth of quality manpower in the continent, it was their consensus that the quality of graduates churned out of universities in Africa; particularly Nigeria must be upgraded to meet global standards.
Those who spoke at the public lecture organised by the London School of Economics (LSE) Alumni Association of Nigeria, include the Former Presidential Adviser on Budget Affairs and Pro-Chancellor/Chairman of the Governing Council, University of Lagos, Dr. Gamaliel Onosode, former Chairman of Union Bank of Nigeria, His Royal Highness Eze G.O Nwankwo, President, London School of Economics Alumni Association of Nigeria, Mr. Ubadigbo Okonkwo, inaugural holder of Chair in African Development, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE’s Africa Initiative, Prof. Thandika Mkandawire and Prof. Mike Kwanashie of Department of Economics, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
They reasoned that the landscape of ideal education in any nation is determined by the vision of its leader, noting, “no nation can make progress without a concrete vision to develop its human capacity.”
According to Onosode, education is important for development, but lack of basic infrastructure towards quality education remains a great challenge militating against African countries, especially Nigeria.
He said that what the continent needed was to invest wisely in education, adding that lack of basic infrastructure in the continent had prompted some Africans who went abroad to study to remain in such countries at the detriment of African development.
“I want to suggest that it is a must for our continent that we invest far more than we are doing at the moment in education particularly in higher education, because quality higher education is expensive and you cannot have good quality education if you do not have quality primary and secondary school education. So the whole structure or system of education deserve to enjoy much greater investments than we have now,” Onosode said.
Besides, the UNILAG pro-chancellor said that concerted efforts should be made to ensure that the continent’s education moves faster, so as to meet the present global trend.
“It will take a much longer time for us in this continent to deal with our challenges; for us to understand the current happenings in the global village. So, for us to be part of the solution to our challenges, we have to understand that there is need to tackle the inherent challenges facing our economic development. This could only be achieved through massive investment in human capital.”
Onosode said that there was need for academia, saddled with the responsibility of developing education in Africa, to brace up to the challenge and demonstrate their commitments towards uplifting the continent’s low capital development.
He said: “The current academics and those who have been given the responsibility for the promotion of education, must realise just how pivotal they discharged their responsibilities, for the continent to grow and meet the current global trend.
He, however, stated that Africa as a continent had a lot to benefit from the LSE, pointing out that since there was an African as the school’s inaugural chair, the continent should take such opportunity to raise the bar in human capital development.
Mkandawire said that Africa as a continent had been facing human capital development challenge since the inception of the continent’s founding fathers, adding that the African nationalists had only one objective, which was nation-building.
According to him, the need to develop a dream ‘nation-building’ was marred by the intervention of soldiers in governance, when the army struck and took over the reign of power in most African states.
“ Our founding fathers of African nationalists’ movement had a very clear vision, which was nation building, but the major reversal in education in Africa came, when soldiers took over the reins of government. So, the vision was systematically edged out by the army and the consequence was the effect on African development today.”
He said that the number of African students in tertiary institutions had increased in the last 10 years, but the quality of graduates produced has been a source of concern to African scholars, which according to him, was caused by lack of basic infrastructure for human capital development.
Mkandawire, who was the guest speaker at the forum, stressed that the sudden emergence of oil boom and economic structural programme also had effect on African education.
According to him, most Africans refused to go to school because of the discovery of oil in the 6os, further diminishing the human capital development in the continent.
He admitted that low funding of education in Africa is crippling the continent’s development, noting that there was need for the continent to shore up its human capital development profile.
“The funding of education has been low. Africa must run where other continents walk and the only way to catch up is to invest in learning,” Mkandawire said.
In his speech at the forum, Eze Nwankwo stated that the problem with education in the continent was not only low investment, but how to find a lasting solution to the production of quality graduates.
He noted that for the continent to achieve the desired objective, there was need to tackle the level of corruption in the society, re-direct Africa’s vision, massive investment in education, manpower training and constitutional review.
He, however, said that another major challenge threatening the continent’s human capital development was the issue of climate change.
Mkandawire warned that African governments needed to channel resources to tackle the menace, as it would be devastating for the continent in the future.
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