Enugu State Government on Tuesday inaugurated a Technical Committee on Human Capital Development (HCD) to improve human capacity and move the state forward.
The committee was inaugurated during a One-day Stakeholders Engagement and On-boarding session of the State HCD Technical Committee at Government House, Enugu.
The South-East Zonal Coordinator, Human Capital Development, Prof. Kate Omenugha, said the inauguration was aimed at understanding the need to improve human capacity through the core ministries in Enugu.
She said: “The problem we are having is that we have not really engaged ourselves on how to build the capacity of our people.
“I am impressed, looking at the calibre of people gathered here to think and brainstorm on how we can invest in our people.”
Omenugha, who was the former Commissioner for Education, Anambra State, added that the Federal Government understood the need to invest in people to create healthy nation and productive people.
“So we are doing two things here today, engaging other stakeholders to be on same page on HCD programme and inaugurating Enugu HCD Technical Committee, who are the core drivers of HCD from the line ministries.
“This include the directors, permanent Secretaries and those in economic planning,” Omenugha said.
The Prof. noted that the state had done a lot on HCD but faced with the challenges of putting them together.
She, however, tasked members of the committee on teamwork, trust and hardwork, to move the state to the next level.
Inaugurating the committee, Gov. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi urged them to involve in what was in their ministries and advised government on how to allocate its resources.
“You should watch each others back, work as a team and pledge commitment,” he advised.
Ugwuanyi said HCD was the key component to eight point development agenda of his administration.
Gov. Ugwuanyi, represented by his Deputy, Mrs Cecilia Ezeilo, said the governor decided to key into the HCD programme in 2018 to ensure that the programme went to people at the grassroots.
According to him, the state has established Human Capital Development Council headed by the Deputy Governor.
“The state HCD is active, meets regularly and occasionally in consultation with experts and other partners.
“Our own plan was to continue with the sense of engagement with all the key stakeholders and partners with a view to putting HCD agenda on the front burner of the state comprehensive growth trajectory,” Ugwuanyi said.
The state action plan, he said, had been developed, using the parameter defined by the National Working Group.
He stressed that further to the implemention of the action plan, members of the technical committee, drawn from pragmatic Ministries of Education, Health and Labour were selected and trained.