Nigeria Must Invest in its People to Grow—World Bank

October 13, 2017
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By Dipo Olowookere

President of the World Bank Group, Mr Jim Yong Kim, has advised the Nigerian government to invest in its people in order to growth its economy.

At a press conference on Thursday in Washington DC, United States, the World Bank chief noted that investing in the people will boost economic growth.

“Nigeria has to think ahead and invest in its people. Investing in the things that will allow Nigeria to be a thriving, rapidly growing economy in the future is what the country has to focus on right now,” Mr Kim told journalists.

Also, the World Bank President said at a meeting with President Buhari, the global lender was asked by the Nigerian leader to focus on the northern part of the country.

“You know, in my very first meeting with President Buhari, he said specifically that he would like us to shift our focus to the northern region of Nigeria and we’ve done that. Now, it has been very difficult. The work there has been very difficult.

“I think Nigeria, of course, has suffered from the dropping oil prices. I think things are just now getting better. But the conversation we need to have with Nigeria, I think, is in many ways related to the theme that I brought to the table just this past week, which is investment in human capital.

“The percentage of the Gross Domestic Product that Nigeria spends on healthcare is less than one percent.

“Despite that, there is so much turbulence in the northern part of the country, and there is the hit that was taken from the drop in the oil prices.

“Focusing on the northern part of Nigeria, we hope that as commodity prices stabilise and oil prices come back up, the economy will grow a bit more. But very, very much important is the need to focus on what the drivers of growth in the future will be,” Mr Kim said at the media briefing.

Dipo Olowookere

Dipo Olowookere is a journalist based in Nigeria that has passion for reporting business news stories. At his leisure time, he watches football and supports 3SC of Ibadan.

Mr Olowookere can be reached via [email protected]

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