The World Bank has pledged to deepen its partnership with Nigeria to boost the country’s Human Capital Index.

This commitment was made during a virtual high-level roundtable at the 2025 World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings, where the Vice President, Kashim Shettima, emphasized the need for stronger international collaboration to advance Nigeria’s Human Capital Development 2.0 strategy.

This was disclosed in a statement released by Stanley Nkwocha, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Communications (Office of the Vice President), on Saturday.

In Friday’s meeting, the World Bank assured Vice President Shettima of a strengthened partnership moving forward.

According to the presidential statement, that the World Bank proposed senior-level stakeholder engagement in areas where the bank is involved.

“The World Bank representatives at the meeting committed to strengthening the bank’s partnership with Nigeria to improve the country’s Human Capital Index and proposed senior-level stakeholder engagement to identify optimal areas for technical support,” the statement partly reads.

The Nigeria’s HCD 2.0 program is aimed at boosting the Human Capital Index and preparing the nation to tackle both national and global challenges, such as climate change and digital transformation.

The Vice President highlighted that the meeting was driven by the urgent need to invest in Nigeria’s people, emphasizing that true national wealth lies not in natural resources but in human potential.

“This meeting, for us, is not just another item on our global agenda. It is a continuation of a journey whose beginnings I had the privilege of witnessing about seven years ago. True national wealth is found not in natural resources, but in human potential.

“We will offer our HCD 2.0 Strategy the political backing it deserves to be the priority of our nation, and His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has never wavered on this,” he assured.

The session featured key stakeholders from the World Bank, including Executive Director Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed; Regional Director for Human Development in Western and Central Africa, Trina Haque; Senior Social Protection Specialist and Regional Task Team Leader for Africa West & Central, Tina George; and Chief Economist for Human Development at the World Bank Group, Norbert Shady.

Shettima pointed out that HCD 2.0 prioritizes six key indicators from the health, education, and labor force sectors, which have been selected as “quick wins” to guide policy actions and measure progress.

“We will continue to hold ourselves accountable and press forward toward our bold goal to elevate Nigeria among the top 80 countries in Human Capital Index rankings,” he said.

Additionally, the vice president urged the World Bank and other development partners to support the availability of disaggregated, state-level HCI data to facilitate more targeted interventions.