Poor planning reason for projects failure in Nigeria – CIPMN

The Chartered Institute of Project Managers of Nigeria (CIPMN) has disclosed that most projects in the country fail due to a lack of proper planning.

Speaking on Wednesday in Abuja at the close of a three-day training for members, the Registrar of the Institute, Mr. Henry Ifeanyi Mbadiwe, said one of the causes of project failure in Nigeria is poor planning.

According to him, “One of the things we talked about is understanding the deliverables of every project; we also talked about managing changes and risks.

“One thing you have to understand is that when there is a project, most likely, there will be changes at one point or another. When these changes occur, they will affect the initial cost of the project.

“As I said before, we have not reviewed every abandoned project in Nigeria, but I can bet you that one of the things that you will find is what we call ‘variation cost’ that has overshot the budget of the projects.”

He explained that due to unforeseen circumstances that come up in the course of implementing projects in the country, the duration of the project is extended, causing the project to be abandoned in most cases.

“Proper change management process, proper impact assessment on changes will ensure that the cost of a change is known before the implementation of the project.

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“This is one of the project management principles that will aid project delivery in Nigeria. Before you embark on any project, you have to do proper planning.

“One thing you have to understand is that these projects fail because they were not properly planned. All deliverables were not accounted for,” Mbadiwe stated.

The Registrar explained further that sometimes projects are embarked upon without all stakeholders being carried along, “so the scope of what you think you are going to deliver becomes small by the time you start.

“You discover that the scope does not cover the needs of the users, so by the time you expand the scope, the cost goes up, and before you know it, there is no more money anywhere for the project.”

Mbadiwe reaffirmed that, “you will escape all these with proper planning of a project. That is why a project Manager is relevant to the delivery of projects in Nigeria.”