Governor of Enugu State, Dr Peter Mbah, has constituted the Enugu State Human Development Council, stressing that human capital remains the true wealth of any nation.

The council, which has the Deputy Governor, Barr. Peter Ossai, as the Chairman, comprises several members of the State Executive Council, heads of MDAs, and representatives of the legislature, local governments, traditional institutions, the Church, and civil society.

Inaugurating the Council at the Government House, Mbah said that the setting up of the Council was in line with the premium which his administration places on human capital development. He, therefore, urged members to brace up for the task ahead.

“From the onset, we outlined three major transformational agendagendasEnugu State; one of them is to eradicate poverty, to reduce our poverty headcount to zero. What that essentially means is that our government philosophy is one that puts a premium on human capital development.

“We understand that the true wealth of any nation is not measured by the value of what they have beneath their soils. It is based on the quality of human resources, which is why, if you look at our budget in the last two budget cycles – 2024 and 2025 – you would notice that social services took over 50% of our expenditure.

This is largely responsible for the huge investment we have done in mediation, the human skills and enhancement programmes and, of course, healthcare.

“Because you can hardly be interested in anything that you cannot measure, the importance of the Council we are inaugurating here today is for us to be able to track the activities in these various sectors – education, development, and health care.

“So, across these various sectors, we have our baseline data of what we inherited, and we are monitoring that. The essence of this Council is also to entrench that monitoring scheme to ensure that we are closely monitoring the growth and the rate at which we are performing across these sectors,” he stated.

Responding, Chairman of the Council Barr. Ossai assured the governor of the members’ total commitment to delivering on the Council’s terms of reference, noting that the imperativeness of the Council was underscored by the fact that everything the government was doing, from Green Smart Schools to the Primary Healthcare Centres, Transport Terminals, Farm Estates, and roads, among others, was all about human beings.

“The whole programme we are running is actually geared towards our people, and if you isolate each and every one of them, you will find the direct link to how they directly link to our people. So, the opportunity for us as members of this Council is to track what we have been doing and to keep data because they enable us to measure our progress,” he stated.

Meanwhile, fielding questions from Government House correspondents, a member of the Council and the Chairman of the Enugu State Council of Traditional Rulers, Igwe Sameul Asadu, described the Council as a game-changing initiative.

“I always say, this governor is a game-changer. I was excited when the governor was inaugurating us today. It is something we have to take home. What he brings to the table is a lot. He brought a lot in education and human capital development.

“As traditional rulers, we work with the communities, and the feedback we are already having is that Governor Peter Mbah is doing well. But he always has a way to measure the success in whatever he is doing in agriculture or healthcare. That is the hallmark of governance,” he stated.

Other members of the Council are the State Focal Person on Human Capital Development/Secretary of Council, Dr Sam Dru-Nwobodu; Deputy Speaker, Enugu State House of Assembly, Hon. Ezenta Ezeani.

Other members drawn from the State Assembly are Hon. Iloabuchi Aniagu, Hon. Okey Mbah, Hon. Jane Eneh, and Hon. Chukwuma Ekwueme.

Those drawn from the State Executive Council are Commissioner for Education, Prof. Ndubeuze Mbah; Commissioner for Health, Dr. Emmanuel Obi; Commissioner for Labour and Employment, Hon. Chika Ugwuoke; Commissioner for Budget and Planning, Barr. Chris Ozongwu; Commissioner for Finance and Economic Development, Dr. Nathaniel Urama; Commissioner for Children, Gender Affairs and Social Development, Hon. Ngozi Enih; and the Hon. Commissioner for Human Development and Poverty Reduction, Dr. Malachy Agbo.

Other members are Chairman, Enugu State Local Government Service Commission, Barr. Nana Ogbodo; Chairman, Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, Enugu State, Hon. Okechukwu Edeh; Special Adviser to the Governor on MSME and Digital Economy, Arinze Chilo-Offia; Executive Secretary, Enugu State Economic Planning Commission, Dan Onyishi; and Assistant State Focal Person, Human Capital Development, Queen Ugwu.

Also, onAlso the council are Anglican Bishop of Enugu Diocese, Rt Rev. Ugo Ike, and Catholic Bishop of Enugu Diocese, Rt Rev. Calistus OnaOnaga, as well as the representative of Enugu civil society organisations, Mr Ozo Ugo.