7th September, 2012
A Professor of Forest Economics, Professor Labode Popoola, has decried the poor management of human capacity in the country.
Popoola, who is a consultant on sustainable development, spoke on Thursday at a one-day national dissemination workshop on ‘Analysis of the growth-health relationship in Nigeria’ held in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital, southwest Nigeria.
He described human beings as the main resource that any nation could boast of, adding that it is this endowment that will help in driving both the physical and natural resources in the land.
“It is important to note that human beings and the human mind are very salient tools in bringing about sustainable development in any nation. What brings about development is not crude oil, gold or diamond. This is because without the human resources the crude is nothing.
“The mineral resources cannot translate to money without being managed. How far a nation can go depends on how well the country’s human resource is developed. For us to say that the human resource is of quality health is key,” he said.
According to him, “health, apart from the physical fitness, entails mental alertness. That is why we say that something must be wrong with the mental state of those who steal the commonwealth of the nation.”
A macro-economist from the University of Ibadan, Dr. Tunji Babatunde, explained that “higher life expectancy increases economic growth and reduces mortality rate.”
The Director, Health Policy, Research and Training Programme, who was the chairman of the occasion, Prof. Adedoyin Soyibo, said the workshop was a means of examining the link between health and growth in Nigeria.
By Gbenro Adesina/Ibadan