The rapid expansion of the global space economy has intensified the demand for indigenous technical expertise in emerging space nations, particularly across sub-Saharan Africa. Despite growing continental investment in space infrastructure, Africa’s capacity to generate, retain, and deploy skilled space professionals remains structurally constrained. This article examines the institutional contributions of Nigeria’s National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) and the African Regional Centre for Space Science and Technology Education in English (ARCSSTE-E), a United Nations-affiliated to human capital development in Africa’s space sector. Employing a qualitative institutional analysis framework grounded in human capital theory and its contemporary extensions, the study systematically evaluates training architectures, postgraduate education programs, international partnership frameworks, and the measurable outcomes of capacity-building initiatives delivered by these institutions between 1999 and 2024. The analysis is supported by a comparative evaluation of equivalent UN-affiliated regional centres in Asia-Pacific and Latin America, providing a normative benchmark against which the performance of NASRDA and ARCSSTE-E can be assessed. Findings indicate that while both institutions have generated substantive human capital outcomes, including the growth of a technically proficient space workforce, increased research output, and demonstrable socioeconomic applications of space-derived data, their effectiveness is significantly impeded by chronic underfunding, accelerating brain drain, infrastructure deficits, and a structurally weak academia-industry-government nexus. The article argues that Africa’s transition from a passive consumer to an active producer of space technology requires not only incremental program expansion but also systemic institutional reform, sustained multi-source financing and deepened integration with the emerging continental space governance architecture of the African Union. An analytical typology of human capital development modalities in emerging space nations and a strategic framework for institutional strengthening tailored to the African context are the original contributions.