N17 trillion lost to abandoned projects, says FG

The Federal Government has claimed that it lost an estimated N17 trillion to abandoned projects.

The Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, John Owan Enoh, represented by the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Dr Chris Osa Isokpunwu, described project management as indispensable to translating government policies and development strategies into tangible results.

The minister raised the alarm at the 8th annual induction and conference ceremony of the Chartered Institute of Project Managers of Nigeria (CIPMN).

He said Nigeria’s recurring problem of abandoned and uncompleted projects had continued to tie down enormous public resources that could otherwise have been invested in infrastructure, industrial development, employment generation and social services.

Meanwhile, CIPMN has developed a project management curriculum for Nigerian universities as part of efforts to address the country’s abandoned projects, estimated by the institute at over N17 trillion.

The Registrar-General and Chief Executive Officer of CIPMN, Henry Ifeanyi Mbadiwe, disclosed this at the institute’s 8th annual induction and conference ceremony, where the Federal Government also called for stronger professional standards and accountability in project execution.

Mbadiwe said the curriculum, developed by CIPMN and approved by the National Universities Commission (NUC), would enable universities across the country to offer project management at the bachelor’s degree level.

He said the curriculum covers the entire undergraduate programme, from the first semester of the first year to the final semester of the final year.

He further cited the findings of the Presidential Projects Assessment Committee, which identified 11,886 ongoing federal capital projects in its 2011 assessment, with an estimated financial commitment of approximately N7.78 trillion.

He noted that the figures were drawn from different assessments and periods but collectively demonstrated the scale and persistence of the country’s project implementation challenges.

He stressed that the consequences of abandoned projects extended beyond financial losses, affecting access to essential services, community development and the overall quality of life of Nigerians.

“These are not merely statistics. These represent hospitals that never opened, schools that never welcomed students, roads that never connected communities, and power projects that never met a single goal,” he said.

The Permanent Secretary added that the resources committed to such projects could have transformed lives, created jobs, strengthened local industries and contributed significantly to economic prosperity.

He observed that the inability to complete projects often reflected weaknesses in planning, supervision, accountability and implementation, stressing that the country needed to place professional project management at the centre of its development agenda.

According to him, the challenge confronting Nigeria is not necessarily the absence of policies or development plans but the difficulty of translating them into practical outcomes.

He said the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, under the leadership of President Bola Tinubu, was committed to accelerating industrialisation and steering the country towards a $1 trillion economy.

Isokpunwu explained that the ministry’s strategic priorities were built around four key areas: expanding demand for Nigerian products and services, strengthening domestic industrial capacity, attracting strategic investments, and leveraging data, artificial intelligence and digital infrastructure.

He, however, warned that the objectives could only be achieved if government policies were supported by effective project execution and measurable outcomes.

“Policies alone do not build economies. Projects do,” he said.

He explained that industrial strategies would remain mere aspirations unless they were translated into physical infrastructure, operational factories, functional systems and verifiable results.

He maintained that professional project managers had a critical role to play in ensuring that government investments delivered the expected economic and social benefits.

he Permanent Secretary also underscored the importance of establishing effective project management structures across ministries, departments and agencies to ensure that projects were properly planned, monitored and evaluated.

He said the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment had adopted a 90-day implementation reporting cycle as part of efforts to strengthen accountability and track progress in the execution of its programmes.

According to him, the approach was intended to promote regular assessment of project performance, improve transparency and ensure that implementation challenges were identified and addressed promptly.

Isokpunwu said the government expected CIPMN, as the professional body responsible for regulating project management practice, to play a more active role in improving standards across both the public and private sectors.

Earlier, the Registrar of the Chartered Institute of Information and Strategy Management (CIISM), Adelanke Oyintoke, said the collaboration between his institute and CIPMN was aimed at producing competent, ethical and professional chartered managers capable of translating development plans into successful projects.

Oyintoke said the partnership was founded on a shared commitment to professional excellence, integrity and effective project delivery, adding that Nigeria needed more than people with professional qualifications.

According to him, the country requires competent practitioners who possess the technical knowledge, discipline and ethical values to execute projects successfully.

He described the conference theme as timely, given the challenges confronting Nigeria’s industrial and infrastructure development.

Oyintoke argued that the country’s development challenges were not primarily caused by a lack of policies but by weaknesses in execution and implementation.

“Nigeria does not lack policies; we lack execution and excellent project delivery. Every abandoned road, every delayed factory and every failed initiative reflects the consequences of poor project management,” he said.