By Sundiata POST, Abuja
LAGOS – Worried by the poor situation in Nigeria’s education sector which is driving the citizens out to other countries such as Ghana for studies, some stakeholders have called for the review and rebuilding of the country’s education system. Mazi Nnamdi Udoh, former chief executive officer/managing director of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), while speaking in Lagos recently during the official launch of a training centre by Nemvas International Limited, lamented that the Nigerian education project has failed resulting in huge capital flight from the country. Udoh, who is also the chairman of board of directors of Nemvas International, an education services and capacity building firm, stressed the need for the country to go back to basics in order to address the woes in the sector. “Going to Ghana to get a degree shows the failure of education project in Nigeria. Let’s go back to the education project, back to the basics of education, leadership and development, and of course make it a continuous part of our development. When we understand that education is a project that deserves careful and articulate planning and execution, from the nursery, primary, secondary up to higher levels of education, then we will look at the indices that are required to run the sector and ensure sustenance,” he noted. Also talking about the importance of Project Management training, a new product by his organisation, Mazi Udoh, stressed the need to build capacity in the area, saying “Project Management is what we need in this country to deliver all projects needed to improve our infrastructure from the local to the federal government level.” “By producing internationally certified Project Management professionals, we will have experts that will ensure that every project is run from the onset with a plan, cost, a timeline for the conclusion and finally the closing out of the project. “Any project that is awarded based on cronies is bound to fail. Regrettably, most projects in Nigeria today have been abandoned because of this. We need to go forward by using qualified people for these projects,” he pointed out. Dr. Sammy Ojigbo, the chief consulting officer of Nemvas International, on his own part noted that the world and Nigeria in particular is in dire need of project management experts.
“Presently in Nigeria, there is an acute shortage of Project Management skills, hence an urgent need to train professionals to fill the gap. This is the only country where we don’t have project management offices (PMO) in government establishments – this is an office with a crop of project management professionals who work on various projects of government. They ensure every project is properly executed because when you don’t execute projects well, probably because it was awarded based on sentiments, religious or geographic attachments, it is bound to fail,” he stated.
Dr Ojigbo worried that often the certificate from Nigerian higher institutions does not make graduates relevant outside the country, but assured that with Project Management training and certification, graduates will be positioned better for opportunities anywhere in the world.
“When our graduates finish, do they have any other skills that they can sell outside the country? Often they are limited to just Nigeria. The world is now a white ocean environment meaning that the world has no more boundaries. I can choose to work in Ghana today, tomorrow I will move to Abu Dhabi, then Korea, but before I can do this, I need to have a skill that is internationally recognised.”
The company’s director of administration, Mrs Onyeka Ojigbo, who disclosed of their plan to collaborate with government to equip existing project managers with international best practices, is optimistic that with capacity building and sensitization in Project Management, the problem of project abandonment in Nigeria will reduce.
She noted that the firm is focused on providing solutions that will address identified lapses in the society. In line with this, the company has Abacus D’ Maths Academy where it trains children between the ages of 5 and 15 to address the rejection for Mathematics which has become common in the country today.
