Speaking at the Project Management Institute National Conference, tagged: ‘Addressing project failures through effective project management practices’, the Group Head, Risk Management and Project Monitoring, Access Bank, Dr. Edmund Otaigbe, said it was disheartening that lots of projects in the country are either canceled or abandoned.
He, therefore, called for a national policy to address the problem of project failures, adding that there must be continuity in projects especially in the public sector. Speaking on “Project failures in Nigeria: The impacts on the growth and development of the public and private sectors,” a professor from Trinity University, Charles Ayo, said the successful execution of projects serves as a visible indicator of development in a country.
The don said regardless of a project’s completion time and cost, it could still be considered a failure, if it does not fulfill its required purpose. “Project management doesn’t come cheap—it takes up to 20 percent of the overall project budget. . Running a project without solid management, or bad project management, however, will do more harm than good. Enough is enough, Citizens must demand accountability.”
“As professionals and project managers we want to ensure that we come up with solutions whereby we can help the government in the public sector and also private individuals and organizations in ensuring that when they execute projects they achieve success on the project.”