Government official and professional project managers have advocated proper planning and timely release of funds to address issues of failure and abandonment of projects in Nigeria.
They gave the advice at the Project Management Institute (PMI) Expo with the theme “Resolving project failure issues in the Public and Private Sectors” in Abuja on Friday.
PMI is a leading professional association for project management, and the authority for a growing global community of millions of project professionals and individuals who use project management skills.
Mr Ife Adebayo, the Senior Special Adviser to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Innovations, in his remarks said lack of proper project management, delay in release of fund contributed to the failure of many projects in the country.
Adebayo said that the present administration was adopting necessary measures to address the challenges, while also ensuring that projects initiated by previous demonstrations were also completed.
He said that government at all level must ensure adequate planning were done, not just on budgetary provision for project, but also the release of approved funds.
“When you look at the situation in Nigeria, and the issues of project failure both in the private and public sector, you will be convinced that the role of project managers need to be given a lot more priority.
“For example, if we had proper project management practices and utilised the services and expertise of more project management professionals, many government projects that are abandoned may have been managed better as a result of good project management techniques.
“Look at the case of the Ajaokuta steel complex as an example, the Ajaokuta Steel Complex in Kogi was supposed to form the foundation for Nigeria’s industrialisation and had reached 98 per cent completion as early as 1994.
“But then it was abandoned and till today, almost 30 years after, no steel has been produced and the project, which was meant to cost 650 million dollars, has cost the Federal Government over eight billion dollars.
“The Plateau Olympic Stadium is another example, The project was designed to be a standard stadium capable of competing with any other in the country, if not on the continent.
“When the stadium’s foundation was erected in 1988, it was designed to be unique. The stadium, however, is yet to host its maiden competition 32 years later.
“Between 1988 and 2014, seven billion naira was spent on construction, with another four billion naira needed to complete it.
“It is evident that poor management and planning contributed to the failure of this project.”
Adebayo said that in 2013, Uket Ewa of Cross River State University of Technology did a research and wrote a paper on “The Root Causes of Project Abandonment in Tertiary Institutions in Nigeria.
He said that the researcher found that some of the root causes of project abandonment include the lack of articulated vision and objectives, lack of adequate planning for the project at inception.
He said that others includes lack of adequate funds and budgetary allocation before projects are embarked upon, inefficient and ineffective legal systems, poor contract documentation and so on.
“In summary – lack of proper project management principles in place within these institutions are the main causes of project abandonment,” Adebayo said.
Adebayo advised the PMI to engage more with the public sector on how utilise the expertise of members of the institute to reduce the challenges Nigeria face in completing projects.
“For instance, how much of a role does Nigeria’s procurement management methods play in project destabilisation and ultimately project failure.
“A contractor is to fix a 100km road but has to wait for six months or more for a procurement process to be concluded, this means by the time he is being mobilised to site the facts at the time of proposal submission could have changed significantly.
“More importantly, the lack of certainty with release of funds could hinder progress as the project moves through different phases.
“I believe the PMI as an institute should make propositions to the Government on ways to improve our procurement processes, project management processes, and project implementation processes.
“In my opinion, all project monitors and supervisors within government ministries and agencies should be mandated to obtain relevant industry-recognised standard certifications from the PMI.
“No project should be initiated without a project management expert officially being a member of the project implementation team,” Adebayo said.
The President PMI, Nigeria Chapter, Mr Paul Omugbe, said there must be proper planning at all stage for all stages of a project for it to be successfully executed.
Omugbe also said that timely release of fund and use of certified project managers was critical to addressing project failures in the country.
“We should have the right people, certified project managers handling project execution. What we have now in most cases are people with many years experience but they are not certified.
“The first step is to get the right people in the right place. We have different people with experience running a project but they are not certified. You don’t expect that project to be successful,” Omugbe said.
Earlier in his remarks, Omugbe said that the conference would offer opportunity to have proper documentation on way forward and how to address issues of projects failure in Nigeria.
“It is painful when you hear that about 70 per cent of project fails in Nigeria. Way back in 2015 the statistics is about 60 per cent. Now we have gone to 70 per cent.
“Sadly also, there are may issues besetting us as a country especially in this modern time.
“So the best place to be is here right now.I am sure as we discuss we will be able to find solutions to issues at hand,” Omugbe said.
The Chief Executive Officer of BravelCONS Global, Mr Fife Banks, in his keynote titled “Effects of Project Failures on Economic Growth and Development in Nigeria” listed loss of revenue to the state and the citizens as one of the effect of projects failure in Nigeria.
Other effects according to Banks were demotivation of human capital; lack of confidence by funding actors; and raising a mediocre generation-next.
Banks, however, for Nigeria to address projects failure there was a need for Nigerians to first do away with the mind-set of failure and adopt the prosperity paradigm.
He said Nigeria must also prioritise real-life project experience over “Project Management certification fad” where every graduate and even undergraduates now see project management as something you read to pass and not something you learn to do.
“The government and by extension, we the organised private sector must create learning opportunities, internship and apprenticeship programs where young people can actively and subliminally learn what it takes to manage projects successfully.
“We must also understand that what makes projects successful is not the brand on your certificate- from Oxford Certified Project Manager or a Cambridge trained Project Maestro.
“The best trained brains will find it difficult to see projects succeed in this clime because of the wicked problems that exist,” he said