RENOWNED historian and scholar, Banji Akintoye has harped on the need for Nigerian leaders to urgently invest in human capital to unveil the economic potentials in Nigerian people needed for development.
Akintoye who said that the country would continue to be poor until its leaders invest in human capital urged to stop the country’s best hands leaving the country seeking for greener pastures.
The historian who stated this while delivering a lecture organised to mark the 10th anniversary of the establishment of Adaba FM, a private radio station in Akure, Ondo state capital, titled “Nigeria: signs of our time”
He said from all accounts and tendencies, it would take a long time for the Nigerian economy to develop without developing human capital.
“Our country is going to get poorer. Why? Because it is human beings that build an economy. It is not capital or machinery.
“The human being who are supposed to be preparing to build the economy of Nigeria is being allowed to roam around the streets and do nothing. Many of them are running away from the poverty and hopelessness.
“The American Census Bureau said in 2013 that Nigerians are the most educated group of immigrants that have ever come to the United States.
“We are losing the people who should be here to be building our economy. I see a country that has the capabilities to be a great country. But I also see that country steadily declining and, perhaps, ultimately breaking.
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“And not even breaking up in an orderly manner but breaking up in ways that can spill lots of blood all over Nigeria and spread a great deal of human suffering to the rest of West Africa. I pray that that does not happen,” he said.
Also speaking during the lecture, the Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Babafemi Ojudu, aligned with the lecturer positions saying Nigeria needed to develop its human capital.
Ojudu said: “I stand by all what Prof Akintoye has said about Nigeria that we have a lot of work to do.
“Government must show more commitment because nothing can be done in the country without human capital development. We must have a rethink and come together to change the story of Nigeria.”
The lecture, titled “Nigeria: signs of our time”, was chaired by Olawale Oshun, the chairman of Afenifere Renewal Group.
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