An Akwa Ibom son and 77 persons have been inducted as members into the prestigious National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPPS), Kuru in Jos, Plateau State.
He is Mr. Imo Bassey Inyang, Permanent Secretary in the Office of the Secretary to the State Government in Akwa Ibom State.
The 78 members include 12 women from various organisations. The participants of senior executive course 42 participants were also inducted as members of the prestigious Alumni Association of national institute.
The institute whose major goal centres on research on contemporary, socio political, economic and cultural issues in humanity based their research on population and human capital development also focused on the role of think thanks in human development. .
President Muhammadu Buhari represented by Plateau State Governor, Mr. Simon Lalong assured the graduates of the NIPSS Senior Executive Course 42 that his administration will implement the 12-point recommendations on Population Growth and Human Capital Development in Nigeria.
Buhari stated this during the graduation ceremony of the 77 delegates of the Senior Executive Course 42 of the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies NIPSS, Kuru, Plateau State.
He said despite the disputations caused to the work of government by COVID-19, NIPSS had put in place stringent infection prevention protocols over the last one-year, to ensure that the deep analytical work of the 77 delegates was not adversely affected.
Project Director, development Research and Project Centre, Dr. Stanley Ukpai in partnership for Advocacy in Child and Family Health at Scale (dRPC-PAS), in a statement noted that the participants have completed investigations into policy interaction and implications of Nigeria’s dynamic population growth for the country’s human capital development.
He said NIPSS was supported by dRPC to access practitioner’s expertise and cutting-edge experiences from the field through interactions with leaders of civil society advocacy organisations under the PACFaH@Scale project.
“In the Nigerian policy analysis space, NIPSS holds the unique position as the only think tank at national or state levels using broad-based consultative approaches covering all geopolitical zones of the country and multiple stakeholders, including civil society through its long standing collaboration with the dRPC,” he said.
Earlier, the Director-General of the National Institute, Professor Habu Galadima, had said Nigeria is currently in a demographic crisis, characterized by a phenomenally high rate of out of school children; youth bulge in the population pyramid; high dependency ratio; as well as high unemployment – all driven by high population growth rates.
The Director-General of the Institute, Prof. Abu Galadima, stated that the Senior Executive Course 42 has 78 participants, which would be graduating, and are been drawn from the armed forces, para-military agencies, federal and state civil services, tertiary institutions and organised private sectors.
According to him, every year, the government provides an area of focus that the institute will devote most of its time to conduct actionable research on.
The Director-General stressed that their study theme as provided by President Buhari was ‘Population Growth and Human Capital Development in Nigeria; Challenges and Opportunities.’
He explained that the President charged the participants to research carefully and proffer policy options that would enable government fashion out appropriate responses to the challenges of rapid population growth and slow pace of human capital development.
Galadima elaborated that they were also charged to articulate evidence based and appropriate responses to the numerous challenges associated with gaps between population growth and human capital development in Nigeria.
He commended the President for his constant support to the Institute aimed at providing lasting solutions to the perennial challenges confronting the nation.
The former Inspector-General of police, Alhaji Mohammed Abubakar who is also the chairman of the Alumni was in attendance to induct the new members.
Mr. Inyang expressed his appreciation to the Governor of the state, Mr. Udom Gabriel Emmanuel for nominating him for the course, the secretary to the state government for his recommendations and President of the Federal Republic for granting him the admission to attend the course.
