Human Capital versus Natural Resources

‘The human soul is a gold mine waiting to be exhumed; a treasure waiting to be discovered’

Why would developed countries of the world place their retirees, and adults that cannot work again on social benefits like feeding allowance, free health care etc. and why would a young pension officer in another country embezzle money meant for pensioners? The purpose is the same thing; to secure the future after retirement and when there is no longer the physical strength to work again. However, the priorities of the two societies are different and that is why one makes a conscious effort to reward those who have used their youth to contribute to the socio-economic and political growth of the country whether in private or public sector, whether a cleaner or a CEO. The other nations that did not prepare for the citizen after retirements or after active economic engagement put it citizen in a race of survival of the fittest and thus people tend to scurry about through embezzlement and taking of bribe and other vices to secure future for themselves. The difference between the two is the value placed on Human Resource as against Natural Resource. Unfortunately extreme capitalism also subscribe to the latter. The financial crisis of 2008 was caused by extreme capitalism where people speculated at the cost of human capital. It was all about money, so it thus becomes possible that even developed countries are caught in the web of valuing natural resource and material resources over human capital. That is often the difference between the developed nation and the underdeveloped nation. The developed nation consciously develop their human capital because irrespective of the material or natural endowment, it is the human capital that is able to manage available resources (scarce or plenty). When there is scarcity, the human capital is able to think out of the ordinary to cover for such, while when there is plenty, the human resources is able to manage the available resource for sustainability. That is why the oil in Niger Delta Nigeria is a curse rather than a blessing and to be frank it is not clear where Nigeria got the appellation ‘The giant of Africa’. I guess by population size! Of course that is a potential human capital but there is a difference between the potential and the actualisation which have not materialised because instead of building human capital we place trust in what natural resource can do and we in turn remain small and underdeveloped. Natural resources alone has not made any country great, it can make them rich but the real worth of a great nation is it people. That is why some nations would move mountains for one of it citizens in captivity while in some country, human being is just another infinitesimal number among the lot.

That is why we don’t pay the human capital both in private and public a living wage, except in some very few selected industry. No matter the wage difference based on different factors of education, economies etc. every worker need to be paid a living wage before they are human resources. The United Arab Emirate have used their natural resources to turn a desert to paradise, though with the aid of foreign human capital but they are working assiduously on home grown human capital but in the age of globalisation that should not be a problem except in the case were everyone not born there is a foreigner and such can cause a gap in patriotism as they can be exploited by foreigners on the long run which might affect sustainability. The same thing goes for nations that are richly naturally endowed but with poor human capital. The edifices life Obafemi Awolowo University, Amadu Bello University, University of Nigeria laid down by our fathers have been turned to relics of history. The same principles taught when those schools were founded as still the same taught till date. The intentions of our founding fathers were for those institutions to rival the likes of Harvard, Oxford, Yales, Imperial, Stanford etc. Only the likes of Harvard, Oxford and Imperial College rivaled them at inception but now, even a cottage University in those countries best what we term the best here. Why would a pension officer dare embezzle money of people who have once used their youth to serve the country? Where such happens, it is because the country place value on money (material wealth) than human resources. He is our hero, he contribute money he cant earn in functions and places of worship and nobody is asking question, when he becomes an embarrassment or too greedy and the protest becomes too much to handle or someone just decide to punish him because he had stepped on toes, he gets a jail term less than the man that steals a chicken because of hunger. Actually the jail term is not for justice it is just to teach him a lesson because he has offended someone up there who he should not have been offended. The high and mighty sets the standard and not a rigorous process that place value and worth on each human capital. The capacity of the mind is well above the largest of all treasure troves, as an imaginative soul can inspired the conquest of unconquered territories, can create plenty in the desert and inspire nations to riches and greatness even in the midst of scarcity