How Oyo enhanced Human Capital Development Agenda in 3 years – Exec. Assistant, Ogedengbe

Oyo State government, on Thursday, expressed willingness to deepen collaboration and partnership with civil society organizations (CSO) in advancing government policies and programmes aimed at developing the grassroots, with a view to achieving the desired results.

The Secretary to the State Government, Mrs. Olubamiwo Adeosun, stated this at a one-day stakeholders’ engagement Meeting with Civil Society Organizations (Csos) registered in Oyo State, held at the House of Chiefs, Secretariat, Agodi, Ibadan.

She stated that the state government is desirous of achieving a significant proportion of donor funds attracted to the state through the various CSOs operating across all our Local Governments.

“As a government that has respect for the rule of law, our desire, therefore, is to see how a significant proportion of these donor funds, specifically those available under the Open Governance Partnership (OGP), of which Nigeria has been a member since 2016, could be attracted to Oyo State, particularly through the various CSOs operating across all our Local Governments,” Adeosun stated.

The meeting, which was organized by the Office of the Oyo State Human Capital Development (HCD) in collaboration with Oyo State Health Insurance Agency (OYSHIA) and National (HCD) Core Working Group, is themed: ‘Promoting more effective collaborative strategies’.

Speaking also at the event, the Executive Assistant to governor Makinde, Rev. Idowu Ogedengbe, acknowledged the fact that the administration of governor Makinde believes so much in the principles of inclusive and open governance, saying that states and societies tend to be more prosperous, effective and resilient running inclusive approach.

Ogedengbe equally maintained that the event will better organise the activities of the CSOs in Oyo State under the three Human Capital Development (HCD) thematic areas and harness the strength of the various networks of CSOs towards supporting the developmental goals and aspirations of the current administration. 

He said: “The ultimate objective of our HCD Strategy is to improve the Human Development Index of Nigeria, which as at 2019, according to United Nations, had a value of 0.539— putting the country in the low human development category and ranked at 161 out of 189 countries and territories in the world.”

He expressed that the gathering will go a long way in putting the State and the country at large on the path of sustainable human capital development.

“In view of the foregoing, we are gathered here today at this Stakeholders Engagement Meeting with all registered CSOs in Oyo State to explore various ways by which CSOs, as our development partners could become more formidable as they carry out their critical developmental tasks. We want to see how the Oyo State Human Capital Development Office under the Office of the Executive Governor could collaborate more effectively with the CSOs.

“We are also interested in employing various mechanisms that could be adopted towards enhancing the capacity of the CSOs in the State and facilitating their ability to attract the resources critically needed to optimize their operations from multilateral organisations and donor agencies working in support of CSOs within the three HCD thematic areas of Health & Nutrition, Education and Labour Force Participation,” Ogedengbe stated.

Speaking on the unprecedented strides of the current administration in terms of enhancing the Human Capital Development Agenda, Ogedengbe explained that in less than three years, the current government has improved on the years of schooling through the introduction of free and quality education and increment in budgetary allocation from 4% to 22.4%.

He also stated that the government has been able to reposition the State’s health insurance agency, OYSHIA, with a view to achieving Universal Health Coverage (UCH) and access to affordable and quality health care to all citizens and residents of Oyo State.

He asserted: “In less than three years in office, the Administration of Governor Seyi Makinde has made significant strides towards enhancing the Human Development Index in the State by improving the mean years of schooling and the expected years of schooling through the introduction of free qualitative education for primary and secondary schools including free application forms for all state examinations and increment of Budgetary Allocation to Education from 4% to 22.4%.”

He further explained that the efforts of the administration of governor Makinde at expanding the Oyo State economy through infrastructural development, support for MSMEs and training of youth entrepreneurs have enhanced domestic productivity and average income per capita of the people. 

Concluding, he explained that the investments of the state government in the health sector have led to the renovation and equipping of many primary and secondary healthcare centres, the mortality rate has been declining and life expectancy has been improving.