Human Capital Development Essay

Effect of Human Capital Development on Poverty Reduction in Nigeria

ABSTRACT
This study was informed by the rising poverty level in Nigeria. Despite Nigeria’s plentiful agricultural resources and oil wealth, poverty is widespread in the country and has increased since the late 1990s. Some 70 per cent of Nigerians live on less than US$1.25 a day. Arguably, it has been asserted that government investment in education, health, agriculture, skill acquisition and small and medium enterprises measured through financial intermediation can help in the reduction of poverty as observed in other developed economies of the world. It is against this back drop that this study tries to examine the effect of human capital development on poverty reduction

The importance of human factor in attaining success or any meaningful socio-economic development in any given society cannot be over emphasized. Goetz and Hu (1996), human capital development refers to the process of acquiring and increasing the number of number of people who have the skills, education and experience which are critical for the economic and the political development of a country. Human capital development is therefore associated with investment in man and his development as a creative and productive resource. Human capital development is the process of further developing the productive capacity of human resources through investment in education or other means (Garavan, Morley, Gunnigle & Collins 2001). Institute of Personnel and Development defines human capital development is the systematic and continuing process of analysing an organisation’s human capital needs under changing conditions and developing personnel policies to the longer term effectiveness of the organisation. Armstrong (2009) sees human capital development as the determinant of human capital required by the organisation to achieve its strategic goals. It is the process for ensuring that human capital requirements of an organisation are identified and plans are made for satisfying those requirements. According to Ijaiya (2010), there are four ways human capital can be developed. They