Economic crisis: Institute advocates establishment of strategic offices

The Institute of Strategic Management of Nigeria ISMN (Chartered) has called on the government at all levels to establish strategic offices and appoint officers to execute strategies.

The Chairman, and CEO, Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESG) Dr. Tayo Aduloju, made the call during the induction of 122 new fellows of the institute in Abuja.

He said nine out of ten businesses on the African continent fail to execute their strategy.

He said Geo-political or hidden economic uncertainties and old traditional problems are emerging in a more polarized world.

He said the world is now closer to the possibly growing regional conflict in the Middle East that is fused with the Russia and Ukraine crisis.

“In Africa we are dealing with the triple crisis of finance, wealth and food that threaten the very fabric of the African experience and again, even though Africa had set a goal that by 20-30 we will feed ourselves and be free from the binding constraints of neuro communalism and other forms of global traps, we are now waiting.

“And then you go back home, here we thought those of us that were part of the strategies of either you were part of Vision 2010 or you were part of NEEDS in 1999 or you were part of Vision 2020. All forms of strategic planning and programming and foresight and attempts to get us to the country of our dreams have failed.

“We are here now in 2024 and I was saying to my founding fathers of the NESG that the characteristics of the macroeconomic situation today you play back 10 years when NESG was founded. They are the same or the difference is that they are of a different order and scale of magnitude.

“Therefore, distinguished strategists and fellows strategic thoughts is not translated into strategic success and it’s not in Nigerian problem, it’s happening at scale.

He said a recent survey showed that 9 out of 10 businesses on the continent are “failing to execute their strategy in 75% of the cases of strategic failure”.

“The problem is not good strategy, the problem is execution. It seems therefore that a body of strategies now transcend our capacity to build ground strategies at the continental, regional, national, corporate or even team level.

He recommended that key government institutions and programmes go beyond project management office (PMO) offices to having offices of strategic management.

“I think it’s crucial that executive officers as we have seen governorship, governors, senators, key strategic officers appoint everybody else such as technical special adviser, everything but very scarce in a few places one would see a proper strategists who’s in charge of managing not just strategy formulation or strategy execution and measuring strategic success”.

He said the imperatives of an office of strategic management is the challenge of the day, ” that strategic managers must transcend not just in the institutions but in their minds that we will not fail, because if this generation calls for solutions that count, ideas that become impact and outcomes, then few professions are better prepared, few practices are better equipped and few communities of professionals are better empowered.

“It seems as the challenge of our time is strategic execution. Back on here, the answers to difficult questions like what are the plans? Everybody has an idea, what are the ideas? Everybody has greater ideas until you try to execute it.

“Therefore, my challenge to our generation of strategies is maybe we must now deepen the second leg. You know, you could have strategy development.

“Then you have the leg of translating strategy into tangible outcomes that that becomes not only the focus of the practice, but maybe even this, the deliberate intent to show that our profession and our practice matters.”

The President of the institute Mr Alex Enebeli said the event was the first national conference after the COVID-19 epidemic.

He charged members to distinguish themselves by providing strategic governance in their positions.