The Chartered Institute of Project Managers of Nigeria (CIPMN) has partnered with the Federal Ministry of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs to train civil servants nationwide on project management skills, beginning with the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The plan was disclosed in Abuja when CIPMN’s registrar general, Henry Ifeanyi Mbadiwe, led his team to confer the institute’s fellowship awards on the minister of special duties, Hon. Zaphaniah Jisalo, and the permanent secretary, Dr. Onwusoro Maduka Ihemelandu.
Speaking after the event on behalf of the minister, Ihemelandu said the initiative would equip civil servants with the skills to manage and deliver projects more effectively.
“We can do project management upscaling across the 774 local government areas in Nigeria, but starting from the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja,” he said.
He explained that the training will be rolled out in phases. “The permanent secretaries at the federal and state levels will be the first beneficiaries of the CIPMN training, followed by directors, then every civil servant across the 774 local governments of Nigeria,” he added.
According to him, the ministry will ensure the Institute is carried along in engagements with states and local governments. “For us in the ministry, we are inter-governmental so, in our engagement with our sub-nationals which are states and local governments, we will try to carry the Institute along in our conferences and stakeholders’ engagements,” he said.
Ihemelandu, who urged CIPMN to organise a stakeholder forum to bring ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) into the programme, also identified some of the challenges facing project execution in Nigeria.
“Given my background in service, which is active in project management in quotes, you need to know the structure, how it is conceptualised, monitor, evaluate and how to close down a project. Within a project too, you need to know how to cost the project.
“Most of the problem we have is the cost management of a team project due to the volatile nature of Nigeria today, it could be one Naira, tomorrow ten Naira.
“Then, what about the quality assurance of materials used in any project? Be it bakery, textiles, among others,” he said.
He called for broader collaboration with professional and regulatory agencies to support the training. “To achieve the desired results, there is a need for sensitisation that cuts across key stakeholders like the Standards Organisation of Nigeria, NSE, Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply Management of Nigeria, and Bureau of Public Procurement, among other strategic partners.
“There is also a need for you to organise a stakeholders forum where you will invite everybody to announce what we do so that everybody will come on board and understand what the mandates of CIPMN is,” he added.
Earlier, CIPMN’s registrar general, Henry Mbadiwe, said the partnership aligns with the institute’s mandate to promote effective project management practices across Nigeria.
“The institute is out to ensure that its mandates are carried out for the overall good of the country,” he said, adding that the fellowship awards mark the beginning of a strategic relationship.
“By the presentation of this award, you are taking up that unique position to drive project management in Nigeria and to ensure that project management in this ministry and Nigeria remain at the foremost of your thinking in delivering of any national initiative in this country and to work collaboratively with CIPMN to ensure that its mandates are being carried out effectively and in accordance to the renewed hope agenda of this country,” Mbadiwe said.
