Osun Ranks Second In Human Capital On Nigeria’s First Sub-National Competitiveness Index

The state of Osun has ranked second in human Capital on Nigeria’s first sub-national competitiveness index released by the National Competitiveness Council of Nigeria.

The report which was release early November by the council took two years to research into the factors that drive competitiveness in Nigeria’s 36 states and the FCT. The research was funded by Ford Foundation and The Tony Elumelu Foundation. The research covered more than 2,000 businesses, 8,000 households, 400 indicators and 4 pillars.

In Human Capital which covers education, migration, gender equality and health, Osun came second after Delta State whilst Enugu state took the third position, whilst Kebbi, Borno and Gombe took the last three positions respectively.

The State of Osun has received several knocks after BudgIT, a socio-economic organisation released its State of the State 2016 report, stating Osun cannot meet its obligations due to its huge deductions for debt repayment from its Federal Allocation. Though the state continue to pay it workforce in an arrangement that sees workers in levels 1-7 (67% of workforce) receive their full salary, whilst workers in grade level 8-12 (25% of workforce) receive 75% of their salaries and workers in grade level 13-17 (8% of workforce) receive 50% of their salaries.

Meanwhile, the state government in its defense on the BudgIT report revealed the state invested heavily in human capital, saying independent reports from several credible local and international organisations has ranked Osun high in all the Human Development Index.

The commissioner for Information, Mr. Adelani Baderinwa reacting to the report on Sub-National Competitiveness Index revealed that, “this again has vindicated our government. We borrowed funds for infrastructural and human capital development.

“The ranking of Osun as Second in Human Capital amongst the 36 states in the Federation in the First Sub-National Competitiveness Index is an endorsement of our belief that investment in Education and other critical infrastructure can never be overemphasized.

“Again, I must appreciate our workers who have made this possible. They have remained steadfast and continue to sacrifice for the future of Osun and its children yet unborn in the face of daunting challenge in meeting our monthly obligations.

“You can be rest assured that the state government will complete all the projects its embarked upon before the end of the Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola’s administration”, the commissioner noted.

It can be recalled that Osun maintained the 2nd position after Lagos in the global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) recently released the Oxford Poverty Human Development Initiative (OPHI) for the year 2016.

The report concludes that Osun has the least poverty outside Lagos.