Big projects are projects that generally take a longer term to complete, a lot of money to finance, and a huge number of risks before they come to fruition. Nigeria is a nation full of human, natural and climatic blessings & resources, but it has been noted that grand projects have more propensity to fail in Nigeria, due to its lack of sustainability than in many other countries.
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The causes of these failures have been a thing of concern, and they are examined as follows:
Lack Of Thorough Identification
Before a project can come into being or light, it must be thoroughly identified, examined and declared viable. Once you interface with the prospect of a project, there is a great tendency to get carried away with the end results, without thorough preparation and counting of costs. When this happens, there is a great likelihood that the project managers and administrators won’t follow through.
Lack Of Planning
For successful projects, time duration, clear set objectives, visibility and adequate personnel and funding must be considered. The strategy must be created based on the times set. For instance, if the project would run for 1 year, there must be deliberate plans for every quarter for the year, and provision for periodic evaluation.
Most big projects are not thoroughly planned and catered for. The idealization of these projects is emphasized so much more than the actionable plans. This constitutes a large percentage of the failure that occurs.
Lack Of Leadership
In reality, it is always difficult to actualize a thing without a visual blueprint. Most of the dreams that are realized in projects do not get completed because no one has ever set the pace in that area. This makes most of the activities done, largely, be a product of chance, trial, and error. Without exact principles, guidance and motivation, it becomes hard to succeed, no matter how dedicated one is to a cause.
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Leadership is the ability to paint a well-represented and related vision, such that the goals can be actualized in the presence or absence of the leader. This is one of the reasons there is hardly sustainable growth and leadership in Nigeria.
Lack Of Sustainability Plans
The approach of many projects is to escalate the pilot phase. Sustainability takes a different approach. It requires trained and system-oriented individuals, who will see through projects, and ensure maximum quality control systems. Without the presence of this feature, it is almost impossible to execute live long projects.
Individuals that would feature in long term mega projects must be concerned about posterity and vision, as opposed to short term benefits. The truth about investments is that it does take a while before it yields.
Due to the poverty rate in Nigeria, it is not uncommon to be driven by short term benefits.
To solve this, the basic needs of citizens should be addressed and taken care of. This would reengineer focus on building more sustainable projects that would be of reward to the continent at large.
Lack Of Accountability For Results
The funding of megaprojects is usually released in trenches. This spurs commitment and accountability. However, it hasn’t worked successfully in many African countries. This can be said to be because the leadership system operated in these countries do not reflect transparency and accountability.
This leads to a lack of progress supervision and monitoring.
Above all these, failure isn’t definitive. It is an opportunity for reassessment and adjustments. Once this attitude is maintained, projects that do not go as planned should not be altogether abandoned. This is what would encourage continuous growth in Nigeria.
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