Hospitalizaciones Potencialmente Evitables.

In general terms, human capital is used to describe the investment people make in themselves that has a positive bearing on economic productivity (Olaniyan and Okemakinde, 2008). Human capital is a broad concept used to designate acquired human characteristics that promote income: it is generally taken to include acquired knowledge and skills, and also to involve an individual’s strength and vitality, which are dependent on their health and nutritional conditions (Appleton and Teal, 1998; Adamu, 2002; Birasneav and Rangnekar, 2009). Hence, the theoretical framework aligning the goals of education with developmental initiatives is known as human capital theory (Olaniyan and Okemakinde, 2008:480). The appeal of this theory consists in the fact that investment in human capital “provide returns in the form of individual economic success and achievement” (Olaniyan and Makinde, 2008 p. 480).

The economic prosperity and functioning of a nation is said to be hugely dependent on its increasing resources and human capital stock (Olaniyan and Okemakinde, 2008; Gennaioli et al., 2013). Whereas the former has conventionally been the concern of economic research, factors affecting the advancement of human capital, as noted by Olaniyan and Okemakinde (2008), are increasingly receiving greater attention in the field of the social and behavioural sciences. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, World Bank research expressed the same interest in the development of physical capital as its concern with poverty was fundamentally GDP growth-oriented, and concentrated more on reviving and accelerating the labour market and rural development respectively (Birdsall and Londono, 1997).

But from 1980s onward, research interests increasingly focussed on the critical role of human resources in fostering growth and ameliorating poverty, reinforcing the view of MacNamara in his address to the Board of Governors World Bank Group in Nairobi, that the real growth process of a nation, if

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grounded on human capital accumulation, would go a long way toward reducing poverty (MacNamara, 1973:5). According to this view, development seen through the trajectory of poverty reduction has to be advanced through the joint strategy of investing in human capital and promoting macroeconomic growth (World Bank, 1990). Hence, economists generally agree that investment in human resources, not just physical or material resources, is the pivot on which the pace of economic and social development rests. “Human resources constitute the ultimate basis of wealth of nations. Capital and natural resources are passive factors of production, human beings are the active agencies who accumulate capital, exploit natural resources, build social, economic and political organization and carry forward national development” (Olaniyan and Okemakinde, 2008 p. 480).

In line with the works of Sakamota and Powers (1995); Psacharopoulos and Woodhall (1997); and Gates and Langevin (2010), human capital theory is predicated on the assumption that formal education is instrumental to improving the production capacity of a nation. This theory further emphasizes how formal education is factored into the positive relationship between productivity and efficiency of workers. The central thesis here is that, education enhances the economic productivity and human capability of a society (Olaniyan and Okemakinde, 2008). Many classical economists have also argued for government’s active support of education on the grounds of the positive externalities that trickle down to the society on account of a more educated labour force (Van-Den-Berg, 2001; Birasnav and Rangnekar, 2009; Smith, 1976; Schumpeter, 1973). For example, Smith (1976) argues that the positive externalities derived from education are necessary not only for the proper functioning of the economy but also for a stable and progressive democratic society.

UN (2010:22) reports that, between 1999 and 2006, there was an impressive growth in Sub-Saharan Africa in the number of primary school enrolments, which was seen as an improvement when compared with the rate in the last six decades. The same was observed in South and West Asia where the number rose by 5% between 1999 and 2006. Nevertheless, as the reports explained further, there were gaps in progress as more than 55% of children in the Sub-

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Saharan Africa were noticed to be out of school, suggesting that millions of school children will be out of school by the year 2015, which was the year for the MDG target date, that ensures basic primary education for all (UN, 2010:23). The inability to achieve this might have necessitated the metamorphosis of the MDG into SDG 2030.

Deriving from the above discussion, poverty conceptualisation in this discourse could therefore be described as a dearth of human capital accumulation, which has its two major indices as education and health. Statistics on Nigerian public spending on social services, such as education and health care, which are the underlying issues in human capital formation, are disturbing. For instance, from 1999-2010 the average national budgetary allocation to education relative to the total budget was 8.86% (Federal Ministry of Finance, 2010:32). The resultant effect of this low spending in the educational sector is the decline in not only the educational opportunities and standards in the country, but also in the infrastructural provisions in the state-run schools (Ejere, 2011). Education has been considered to be a major means through which skills and capabilities can be improved, thereby reducing poverty. Umo (1997) holds that high quality education offers a good means to solving most of the economic and social problems, including poverty in any given nation (see also Soderbom and Teal, 2001; Yusuf et al., 2009). Apparently, Olaniyan (2004) reveals that the rate of increase in poverty may be a result of the refusal of many households to send their children to school. In view of the above, Ejere (2011) and Yusuf et al. (2009) maintain a positive and strong relationship between poverty and human capital and as such, lack of adequate human capital becomes one of the various ways to conceptualize poverty.

This leads us to the next sub-section where poverty is discussed as a lack of basic capabilities and functioning.