The National Economic Council (NEC) has revealed areas that Nigeria’s Human Capital Development (HCD) Communications action plan will focus on to achieve results, including a sense of ownership by stakeholders and many others.
This was disclosed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Chairman of NEC, on Tuesday, in Abuja at the meeting for HCD Communications Strategy at the State House Banquet Hall, Abuja.
The Vice President said the NEC in 2018, set up a strategy to improve Nigeria’s economic output and development, stating that the first objective of the communication strategy is to ensure that everybody has a shared understanding of HCD programme objectives and its importance to Nigerians.
“Those of us here, right from the governors and ministers to the state commissioners and directors and focal persons, we are the critical people to make sure that we, first, understand the programme and we follow up on the implementation at all levels of government so that we can really begin to see the effects.
“So, a shared understanding is the first objective of this meeting,’’ he said.
“Secondly, there should be a sense of ownership among the key stakeholders,” he added, stating that a common understanding and objective would enhance the sense of ownership.
“Third is the co-creation of a strong and positive brand identity for the HCD programme. I made the point earlier that it is not enough to make all these grand plans and even try to implement them; we must let the ripple spread; we must get other people to know that this is happening; to know that these are the benefits for our people in making this happen and then, to get them to come along with us in making it happen.
“So, we, therefore, need a strong and positive brand identity for the programme which will inspire others to join in its objectives and its implementation,’’ Osinbajo stated.
He noted that the 4th objective is to streamline HCD communication activities to people in areas of most impact, citing Nigeria’s vast size in ethnic groups; diverse geography, diverse customs and others.
“So, we don’t want a one-side-fix-all communication strategy approach. We need to have each sector, each group represented or seeing itself, represented in this strategy.
“It is not a strategy designed for the North or for the West or the East; all of the nuances must be recognised and integrated in what we are presenting to the Nigerian public,’’ he said.
He also called for the necessity of implementing a monitoring and evaluation framework that would be widely understood by users of the programme.
Osinbajo said that there must be a common understanding of what should be regarded as success.
