Human capital and its benefits, and why it should be invested in

1. Human Capital the Way forward for Nigeria
In Nigeria, children between the ages of 11-18 are being caught in the act of serious
criminal activities, while others at an early age of 9 are introduced into drinking of alcohol,
in remote areas children as young as 8 years old are seen on major roads selling (hawking).
The big question is how do we reduce these menaces to the minimal or put a stop to it if
possible. The only solution is investing in Human Capital
Human capital according to World Bank group is the sum total of a population’s health,
skills, knowledge, experience and Habit. Capital consists of asset that can enhance one’s
power to perform economically useful work and it is used to generate wealth. Human
capital in my own words is the deposit made on any human to enhance the individual in
order to improve the society economically.
Human capital focuses on the health and intellectual ability of an individual, how efficient
an individual can operate determine on the level of his health and his cognitive skills, also
how well the individual can adapt to the changing nature of work also depend on his health
and cognitive skills.
Reasons why Human capital should be invested in, in Nigeria
The problems listed below are the major reason why human capital should be embraced
and invested by Nigeria
1. 2.9 million Children under 5 dies every year in Africa, while about 262,000 dies at
birth, therefore 1 of 8 children in Nigeria dies before 5, these are a result of
malnutrition during the first 1000 days of the child.

2. Picture of Malnourished children
2. About 10.5 million children aged 5-14 are out of school, therefore making Nigeria
the highest ranked as having the number of out of school children.
3. More than 40percent of children are stunted
Picture of stunted children
4. High maternal death rate.
5. High annual death rate.
6. The population of the country’s more of young unemployed youth.
7. Large number of uneducated women
How can investing in human capital solve these problems?
Just as the benefits from a business is not gotten immediate so also the benefits from
investing in human capital is not gotten immediately but there’s benefits and part of these
benefits solves the problems above, now will see how these problems are solved:
Health and education are the major components of human capital. People work effectively
when they are healthy and have acquired skills and knowledge over time, which is gotten
as a result of education. Human capital begins even before the child is born i.e. when the
child is still in the uterus. At this stage the nutrition of the child and the mother should be
very important as this goes a long way to determine the child’s ability physically and
mentally. Then early childhood development this usually the first 1000 days of the child
should be given utmost attention, particularly the child’s health. According to World Bank
revealed that school children who had healthier diet significantly increased their
achievement in English and science.

3. Human capital reduces the mortality among children of less than 5 years old and keeping
the child healthier. The problem of stunting will be very low when we invest in Human
capital. Bill Gates in 2014 when he came to Africa said “I would often meet children in the
villages I was visiting and try to guess their ages. I was shocked to find out how often I
guessed wrong. Kids I thought were 7 or 8 years old based on how tall they were- would tell
me that they were actually 12 or 13 years old. These are adverse effect of malnutrition.
Stunting does not only affect the child’s height, it also has an impact in the brain
development”. Stunting makes children fall behind at school these in turn affect the
economy of the society in the future. Human capital help mothers live healthy therefore
reducing maternal death rates.
The individual alone does not benefit from the investment of human capital the society
also has a lot to benefit. It is gathered that a child that was invested in, increases the GDP
of the society by 10-30 percent. The society also increases its number of healthy citizens
that are working, therefore reducing crime rate, improves innovation and creating more
job, it is important to invest in infrastructure but it is more important to invest in humans
as infrastructural development comes with human development.
Who should invest in Human Capital and how it should be done
Individual, families and the government all have a role to play. Individual and families may
not have the funds to acquire human capital, but they should try as much as possible with
the little they have. Government has the larger part to play in acquiring human capital, by
setting programs to educate parents on the important of good education and health,
equipping schools with at least average qualified teachers especially in rural areas and
medical facilities should be set, programs that teaches parent on how to feed during
pregnancy and even when the child is born, programs on how to breastfeed should be
carried out. Policies should be made on agricultural produce and handling to enhance
Human capital.
The earlier actions are taken to support investment in Human capital the earlier it is for
children to develop their cognitive and sociobehavioural skills and this aid development of
the society.

4. To be able to keep up with development Nigeria needs to invest in Human Capital less not
deprive our children the opportunity to be able to compete with other societies.