Business

Nigeria’s Human Capital Development Among World’s Worst -W’Bank

Published

3 years ago

July 24, 2022

World bank

The World Bank Group has said that Nigeria’s human capital development ranks among the worst globally.

The Washington-based bank stated this in a new report titled, “COVID-19 and Nigeria’s human capital crisis,” where it noted that Nigeria’s ambitious poverty-reduction targets hinge on developing human capital.

According to the report, learning poverty, which captures 10-year-olds’ ability to understand simple sentences or perform basic numeracy tasks, likely proliferated in Nigeria during the pandemic.

While learning poverty cannot be estimated directly for Nigeria due to lack of data, it now affects up to 70 per cent of children in low- and middle-income countries, the World Bank notes.

The report read in part, “Even prior to COVID-19, Nigeria had some of the worst human capital outcomes in the world. According to the 2020 Human Capital Index (HCI)—based on a range of markers of health and education including infant mortality, expected years of schooling, sand stunting—a child born in Nigeria that year will grow up to achieve just 36 percent of the productivity he or she could have attained with full health and education. This was below the average for sub-Saharan Africa of around 40 percent. Just six countries had lower HCI scores globally.”

The report further noted that the direct health effects of COVID-19 itself threatened Nigeria’s human capital.

The country recorded its first case of COVID-19 on February 27, 2020 and has subsequently already suffered at least four distinct waves of infection, peaking around June 2020, January 2021, August 2021, and January 2022.

However, recorded case numbers in Nigeria generally remained lower than in the Americas, Europe, and Asia.

It said the COVID-19 crisis threatens future generations further through its impact on education. School closures during 2020 reduced children’s attendance rates even after reopening, especially among older children.

According to the bank, as the COVID-19 pandemic abates, rebuilding human capital represents a key immediate policy priority for Nigeria.

It further said recouping the learning losses experienced during the pandemic was also a crucial element of rebuilding human capital. Nigerians themselves favour expanding in-person learning—especially by adding more hours to the school day—to help children catch up.

According to a child education expert, Emmanuella Chinelo, the assertion of the World Bank on Nigeria’s learning poverty rate is not unconnected to why most Nigerian adults are unable to reach their full learning potential, which ultimately translates to the poor human capital development statistics.

She, however, noted that in very rare cases, a child’s inability to reach full learning potential before the age of 10 might not produce the conventional effects seen in most people who fall into that bracket

She said, “Actually. It is not always the case, even though the right thing for parents to do is to have learning support systems for their kids, because if they don’t do that, most of them struggle. There’s a 10-year old boy I’m teaching now, during the lockdown they discovered that he couldn’t read well, and he was already in year 4. It’s a struggle, even till now, because he already missed out on the foundation. His learning is actually impaired. It’s not always the case, but most kids I’ve seen usually have that impaired learning.”

PUNCH

Business

Fourteen Nigerian Banks Yet To Meet CBN’s Recapitalisation Ahead Of Deadline

Published

13 hours ago

November 27, 2025

Editor

No fewer than 14 Nigerian commercial banks are yet to meet the Central Bank of Nigeria’s recapitalisation requirement as the 31st March 2026 deadline inches closer.

This follows CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso’s announcement on Tuesday that sixteen Nigerian banks have met their recapitalisation requirement ahead of the apex bank’s March 2026 deadline.

DAILY POST reports that Cardoso disclosed this in a statement after the bank’s 303rd Monetary Policy Committee in Abuja.

According to Cardoso, the development indicates that there is financial soundness in the country’s financial banking system.

MPC had been urged by banks to ensure a successful implementation of the recapitalisation process.

“The committee noted with satisfaction the sustained resilience of the banking system, with most financial soundness indicators remaining within regulatory thresholds,” Cardoso said.

“Acknowledged the substantial progress in the ongoing recapitalisation programme, with 16 banks achieving full compliance with the revised capital requirements.

“The committee thus urged the Bank to ensure a successful implementation and conclusion of the programme, among other domestic developments,” Cardoso said.

This means that two additional Nigerian banks have been added to the list of banks which have complied with the apex bank recapitalisation requirement in the last two months.

Recall that Cardoso, in the 302nd MPC meeting, announced that only fourteen banks have met the recapitalisation requirement.

CBN records as of 2024 showed that the country has thirteen commercial banks, five merchant banks and seven financial holdings companies.

Earlier, a report emerged that Access Bank, Zenith Bank, GTBank, Wema Bank, Jaiz Bank, Stanbic IBTC, and others have already met CBN’s recapitalisation requirement.

CBN in March directed commercial banks with international authorisation to increase their capital base to N500 billion, while those with national licences must raise to N200 billion.

Business

CBN Retains Interest Rate At 27%

Published

3 days ago

November 25, 2025

Editor

The Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria has voted to retain the benchmark interest rate at 27 per cent.

CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, announced the decision on Tuesday following the apex bank’s 303rd MPC meeting in Abuja.

Cardoso stated that the committee also resolved to keep all other monetary policy indicators unchanged.

He noted that the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) remains at 45 per cent for commercial banks and 16 per cent for merchant banks, while the 75 per cent CRR on non-TSA public sector deposits was equally maintained.

Cardoso added that the Liquidity Ratio was retained at 30 per cent, and the Standing Facilities Corridor was adjusted to +50/-450 basis points around the Monetary Policy Rate.

The decision comes as Nigeria records its seventh consecutive month of declining inflation, which eased to 16.05 per cent in September 2025.

Business

CBN Issues Directive Clarifying Holding Companies’ Minimum Capital

Published

3 days ago

November 24, 2025

Editor

The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has issued a definitive directive detailing how financial holding companies should calculate their minimum paid-up capital, following weeks of confusion that delayed the release of some banks’ half-year and nine-month financial statements.

In a circular dated November 14, 2025, the apex bank acknowledged “divergent interpretations” of the term minimum paid-up capital as stated in Section 7.1 of the 2014 Guidelines for Licensing and Regulation of Financial Holding Companies.

To eliminate ambiguity, the CBN ruled that minimum paid-up capital must be computed strictly as the par value of issued shares plus any share premium arising from their issuance.

“All Financial Holding Companies are required to apply this definition in computing their minimum capital requirement—without exception for subsidiaries,” the circular stated.

The regulator added that the directive takes immediate effect, noting that any previous interpretation that does not align with the new clarification “should be discontinued forthwith.”

The move is expected to calm market anxiety and provide clarity for lenders navigating ongoing regulatory capital requirements.