How Nigeria Can Raise More Qualified Project Managers

Nigeria’s skills shortage is widely acknowledged as one of the major stumbling blocks to the growth of the economy.

This skills gap which is being experienced at a period when the government has budget billions of naira for infrastructure developments in view of its Vision 20:2020, but lacks the right people to implement the program is widely blamed on the brain drain by major stakeholders within the project management field.

To close the skills gap, that is, to raise more talents in the project management field, much needs to be done by all sectors of Nigerian society.

However, much of the responsibility falls on our government and then the major players in the field of project management. Once a solid foundation is in place, we will be able to raise more talents for the next generation of project, and even program managers.

Here are some of the major ways Nigeria can raise more qualified project managers:

1. Create More Awareness About The Profession.

There appears to be a lack of awareness about the project management field by government officials, professionals and students. Now, let us go back to our secondary and primary schools. How many of our students at the primary and secondary levels want to become project managers? Have they even heard about the project management profession talk more of becoming a professional in the field? There have been a lot of talk globally about promoting project management but the key is to start creating awareness at primary and secondary school levels.

2. Increase The Number Of Tertiary Institutions Offering Project Management Courses.

There are a lot of tertiary institutions within the country but only a very few offer a formal project management program at the graduate level. The education sector should accept their roles in helping to solve these skills crisis. More tertiary institutions should be encouraged and supported to offer degree level courses in project management. Those institutions who are already offering the course should be examined to see if they offer the needed subjects that would aid in producing quality project managers. Also, project management stakeholders need to enhance the reputation of tertiary institutions that invest in new programs to raise qualified project managers.

3. Improve The Standard Of Our Training Centres.

There are graduates and professionals in various industries and sectors who are interested in learning the project management methodology or obtaining a professional certification in project management so as to enhance their career, but if we do not impact the right knowledge in them, they would adopt non-best practices. So we need to examine and improve the standard of our training centres so they can produce well-trained and certified project management professionals.

4. Create More Jobs And Career Opportunities.

The Nigerian economy is not diverse enough to absorb new graduates, so the more awareness we create by allowing companies, organizations and the government to see the value that project management offers, the more new windows of employment opportunities will be created for students in project management. There is a significant youth population in Nigeria, so if we do not strive to create employment opportunities, they would divert into other fields leading to more skills gap in the profession.

5. Develop Our Local Project Management Industry.

There are very few Nigerian-owned project management firms. The federal and state governments need to develop our project management industry by offering them opportunities to launch and manage domestic projects. Also, these Nigerian-owned project management firms need to improve their internal financial and human resource capacity so as to compete favorably with foreign project management firms in bidding for local and foreign contracts of projects. Nigeria also needs to start developing its own unique project management standards through certification. This certification would create a level of competence that our local industry can rely on for quality because it is tailored for the Nigerian environment. There also needs to be greater transparency and accountability in the project management industry.

6. Offer Good Salary.

According to the PMI Project Management Salary Survey, the salaries of project managers around the world continue to climb.

As extracted from PMI’s Career Central, the 10 countries reporting the highest median salaries (reported below in U.S. dollars) are:

1. Switzerland, $160,409


2. Australia, $139,497


3. Germany, $110,347


4. The Netherlands, $109,775


5. Belgium, $108,750


6. United States, $105,000


7. Ireland, $101,635


8. Canada, $98,517


9. United Kingdom, $96,384


10. New Zealand, $91,109

But the question is, “What is the average salary of project managers in Nigeria?” Most of our highly-skilled project managers are going abroad for better salary and this trend might continue if we don’t start offering incentives, apart from pay packages, for our skills and talents to stay here. In life, money talks!

7. Attract Foreign Talents.

Who says we can’t attract foreign talents? Look around you; you will see foreigners who have to Nigeria to make a lot of money. Some will, some won’t, but we need to keep attracting foreign talents to help develop our economy. And there is no better way to do this than to improve our educational standard, develop our local industry, create more job and money-making opportunities and pay good salary.

8. Transfer of Skills.

There have to be a system whereby experienced and professional project managers in the workplace can transfer their skills and experience to newly qualified project management graduates. When contracts are awarded to foreign project management firms, there should be a policy or law stipulating the transfer of needed skills from that particular project to our local project managers as this will help reduce skills gap in the field.

The ways listed above, if successfully implemented, will go a long way toward developing, retaining, and fostering a professional project management culture in Nigeria.

What other ways or methods do you think Nigeria can adopt to raise more qualified project managers?

Project Management Industry, project management nigeria, Project Management Professional, Project Management Skills, Project Management Training, Qualified Project Manager