The Chartered Institute of Project Managers of Nigeria, CIPMN, has urged President Bola Tinubu to make infrastructure development the primary focus of his administration.
The President of the institute, Akinola Babalola, made the call at the constitution of the council and inauguration of council members of the Chartered Institute of Project Managers of Nigeria, CIPMN in Abuja, Nigeria.
Mr. Babalola said the event “marks a critical milestone in the history of the Institute and my charge to the newly constituted Governing council is: we need to roll up our sleeves and get to work because there is so much to do with absolutely no time to waste.”
He therefore called on Nigeria’s President to enlist the institute in its programmes to enhance delivery of infrastructure for the country.
“The bane of our development as a nation has always been our huge infrastructutal deficit. It is a known fact that the key to economic prosperity is infrastructural development. We hereby call on the new administration led by the indefatigable, result driven President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to enlist the Institute as their partner in progress in the development agenda for Nigeria.”
Also speaking, the registrar of the Institute, Mr. Henry Mbadiwe said in line with the mandate, the institute will, with “immediate effect put together, standardisation practices for the profession in Nigeria: against these standards will professionals in project management all over Nigeria be trained and certified to practice, we will start to work with other membership regulatory bodies that interface with projects across the country to ensure that we have one view on how to standardize the project sectors and to ensure that all stakeholders in project delivery have a voice in shaping the sector.”
Mr. Mbadiwe disclosed that the institute was already working with the National University Commission (NUC) to enlist project management curriculum for Nigerian Universities.
“We will work directly with all universities in Nigeria to ensure that their project management curriculums are accredited by us in line with the law and that we support them in any way they require to ensure that they have the resources to deliver lectures in the field of project management, we will work with the organised private sector, other Ministries, Departments and Agency (MDAs) of government to ensure that they have the necessary skills to abide by the law as regards ensuring that no unqualified person is allowed to practice project management without a license.”
For the Chairman of the Council, Mr. Emmanuel Afolayan, the era of abandoned and substandard projects are gone as the CIPMN will ensure standard in project delivery and deal with illicit practices in the sector.
The ACT Establishing the CIPMN, provides that nobody shall be appointed to manage projects in any organisation whether it is a public sector, organisation, or private sector organization without the license of the Institute in Nigeria, an offence punishable under Section 19 of the Act with two years in prison.
