German chamber harps on human resource drive

The German Chamber of Commerce has said that the greatest asset any country has is its human resource.
This assertion was made in Abuja by the delegation of German industry and commerce in Nigeria headed by Dr. Michael Blank who led his team to the Abuja Chamber of Commerce, Industry Limited (ACCL), to discuss the willingness of the chamber to train Nigerians for self-reliance and sustenance.

Blank insisted that it is not wise for any country to rely solely on a monolithic economy and added that even if the global price of oil is not on the low side at the moment, the onus still lies on every country of the world to look into how its populace can be better equipped with skills as they would be the ones to man and process whatever natural resources such country has.

He said with the current drop in oil price of which Nigeria is not immune, it is imperative for the country to seriously take the issue of diversification of the economy as an urgent national issue rather than play lip service to same.

Blank said skill acquisition and training comes with knowledge which results in high productivity, which in turns translates to economic growth and such country’s economy becomes more competitive in the global economy.

His words, ‘’Nigeria should go ahead and diversify its economy. I don’t think there is any other choice than that. Everyone can see what is happening to oil in the global market and Nigeria is not an exception. We on our part want to assist in the training of the human resource which we view as more important than any natural resource like oil, gold or any other.

Without the passing of knowledge to the people, no natural resource can function in its raw state and that is why we see training of human being as very critical in the whole equation. When people are knowledgeable, they will be able to transform the economy and Nigeria’s economy will become more competitive in the global arena. That is what is in vogue now and Nigeria cannot afford to sit on the sideline, it has to be proactive and move with the global trend’’.

Blank said his government will be working with the FCT, Lagos and Ogun states in a training phase which will commence in December for a period of three years. He called on the private sector to drive the Nigeria economy as the government alone cannot achieve much.
‘’The economy of any nation is driven by the private sector; no government can drive the economy. Skill acquisition and training should be private sector driven.

The basic function of the private sector is to move the economy to where it desires and so they cannot pretend not to know what is happening around them, the economy belongs to them and that is how they should see it’’.

The president of the Abuja chamber Tony Ejinkeonye said the decision to engage the German chamber stemmed from the realization that the unemployment rate in the country has a direct correlation with insecurity and crime. He said if Nigerians are properly skilled and knowledgeable, they would be engaged in profitable ventures that would in turn dissuade them from any social vices.
He said the chamber will continue to deliver on its mandate to ensure that economy of the country can be compared to any across the globe.