A Lagos-based project management con- sultant, Ayodele Akingbade, has attributed the prevalence of abandoned projects to leadership problems, saying Presi- dent Muhammadu Buhari can make a difference by giving Nigerians purpose- ful leadership.
Consequently, Akingbade, managing director, Grierson Consulting Group, urged the government to embark on adequate planning before embarking on any project so as to rid the nation of prevalence of abandoned projects all over the country today.
Speaking exclusively with BusinessDay in Lagos, the management con- sultant, who specialises in project management and cost control, said for Nigeria to develop, the present 30/70 budegeting in favour of recurrent expenditure must be reviewed to 60/40 in favour of capital expenditure.
“Project management is all about leadership and management of projects that are executed under such leadership.
“Buhari must under- take projects that impact positively on the lives of the citizens, that could provide employment to Nigerians, and also get rid of corruption and indisci- pline,” he said.
But, he was quick to add that such projects must be carefully selected with proper planning spanning from initiation to planning, execution, monitoring and control, and project closure must be carefully monitored with the hope of coming out with the desired results.
He attributed the prevalence of abandoned projects all over the country to the fact that leadership in the past had not commu- nicated to their citizens its intentions and what they want to achieve, while at the same time enough resources were not com- mitted to the projects.
“Leadership should be able to carry the citizens along on what it intends to achieve from the project. The end product of poor leadership in Nigeria is the prevalence of abandoned projects despite existence of best brains and profes- sionals. It is all due to lack of planning and execu- tion,” he said.
Apart from ensuring that all these processes are followed to ensuring result oriented projects, he advised that the stakeholders must have to be carried along, saying “we have negative and positive stakeholders. The onus is on the leadership to ensure that both support- ers and opponents of the projects are carried along, as there are bound to affect negatively the interests of some stakeholders. Effec- tive communication can do the magic.”
He therefore admonished leadership at various levels to be responsive and accountable to the citizens.
According to him, what states like Lagos, regarded as a leader in proj- ect execution, have done are “the basic things expected of any government that requires government going beyond that and executing projects that impact positively on the lives of the citizens.”
For Nigeria to move forward, he advised the Buhari led government to prune down the civil service by half while ensuring that those remaining should be made to provide value for the salaries they draw, which represents a substantial part of the recurrent budget.
JOHN OMACHONU
