HAMZAT EMPHASISES DATA INTEGRITY AS LAGOS VALIDATES HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT 2.0 REPORT
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Lagos State Deputy Governor, Dr. Kadiri Obafemi Hamzat, has urged more accurate, seamless and comprehensive data reporting to ensure that the true scale of the state’s investments in human capital development is properly reflected and recognised.
Hamzat, who also chairs the Lagos State Human Capital Development (HCD) 2.0 Core Working Group, made the call on Thursday during the State Core Working Group meeting and validation of the HCD 2.0 report held at the Deputy Governor’s Conference Room in Alausa, Ikeja.
He said Lagos had recorded measurable progress across key human capital sectors, including health, education, social welfare, skills acquisition and economic empowerment, but noted that many of these interventions were not adequately captured in existing data frameworks.
According to him, several workforce training and livelihood support programmes, particularly those implemented through the Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation (WAPA), have empowered thousands of residents with employable skills and tools for self-reliance, yet remain largely underreported.
“In terms of human capital development, Lagos State is doing a lot through interventions, programmes and projects. Unfortunately, the metrics available do not accurately reflect the extent of what is being done. The state is clearly being underreported,” Hamzat said.
He explained that the report validation exercise was designed to close existing data gaps and improve the credibility of the HCD 2.0 strategy, urging members of the Core Working Group to subject all data to rigorous verification and strengthen collection processes across sectors.
The Deputy Governor also identified the informal sector as a major blind spot in human capital data, stressing that a significant volume of relevant information remains uncaptured, despite its importance to the state’s economy and workforce.
“The data gap must be closed so that the Human Capital Development Strategy truly captures everyone. Only then can planning, implementation and impact assessment reflect the realities on the ground,” he added.
Earlier, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Dr. Oreoluwa Finnih, described the meeting as a critical milestone in aligning Lagos State’s development agenda around its most important asset – its people.
Finnih, who also serves as the state’s coordinating focal person for the 2020–2030 Human Capital Development Strategy, said Lagos, as Nigeria’s economic nerve centre and one of Africa’s fastest-growing megacities, must begin to measure progress beyond physical infrastructure and economic output.
She noted that greater emphasis must now be placed on the quality, productivity and resilience of the state’s human capital in a rapidly evolving global economy.
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According to her, the HCD 2.0 Strategy was deliberately designed to place people at the centre of governance, with a strong focus on education, healthcare delivery, skills development, and workforce competitiveness.
She added that since the inauguration of the Core Working Group, sustained technical engagements and cross-sectoral collaborations among Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) have been carried out to improve coordination, data integrity and evidence-based policymaking.
“These efforts were deliberate—to break silos, deepen alignment, and ensure that our strategies are context-specific, practical, and results-oriented,” Finnih said.
She explained that the strategy emerged from extensive consultations with development partners, the private sector, civil society organisations and technical experts, and aligns with the Lagos State Development Plan 2052, the THEMES Plus Agenda, the National HCD 2.0 Framework, and the Sustainable Development Goals.
Describing the validation of the report as a shift from planning to execution, Finnih said the document would serve as a practical guide for policy decisions, resource allocation, and performance management across government.
She commended the Deputy Governor and members of the Core Working Group for their commitment, expressing confidence that the validated HCD 2.0 strategy would translate Lagos State’s economic ambitions into tangible improvements in the quality of life of residents.
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