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Stakeholders at PMI Africa Conference Call for Collaboration, Inclusion and Diversity to Boost a Sustainable Future for Africa
Experts and stakeholders in the project management ecosystem have said that diversity, inclusion and collaboration are some of Africa’s leading catalysts for economic growth.
L-R: Paul Omugbe, President, PMI Nigeria Chapter; George Asamani, Managing Director, Sub-Saharan Africa, Project Management Institute (PMI) and Joe Cahill, Chief Customer Officer (CCO), Project Management Institute (PMI) at the 7th annual PMI Africa Conference in Lagos.
This was the highlight of the first day of the 2022 Project Management Institute (PMI) Africa Conference currently being held in Lagos. Connecting ideas, peoples and projects.” The three-day event will include roundtable dialogues, exhibition visits, networking opportunities and panellists’ sessions where front-burner issues and challenges in project management will be discussed.
George Asamani, MD, Sub Saharan Africa, PMI, who opened the conference, said, “Countries, companies and communities who succeed do so by applying the practice of project management.
“In the new normal, when the resources are stretched, project management becomes even more critical to maximise return on investment and deliver results.”
The conference is hosted annually by Project Management Institute (PMI), the world’s leading association for project professionals, which gave insights into delivering exceptional projects for business transformation and Africa’s development.
Founder of SHEngineers, and senior civil engineer, Innocentia Mahlangu, emphasised the need for organisations to reform their workplace policies to reflect diversity and inclusivity during her closing keynote talk.
In her address themed, ‘Boosting the role of women in Africa’s project economy’, she remarked that, like many technical professions, project management still remains male-dominated. Citing an article she co-authored in Financial Times, she said, “by 2030, there will be a global demand for about 25 million project professionals.”
Reflecting the sentiments of UN Women, she pointed out that gender equality is one of the best ways of solving some of these 21st-century challenges.
“Women are not only more affected by these problems, but they have ideas and leadership to solve them. Gender discrimination which is still prevalent, not only holds too many women back but also the world. Inclusion is not only a human resource or company policy issue.
“It’s an opportunity for new ideas and leadership styles to emerge and solve our current challenges to make the world a better place.”
“There are conscious biases and stereotypes which may hamper opportunities for women to take up careers in the project economy. Diverse teams and inclusive environments produce positive results. We must reflect the people we deliver projects for,’’ she said.
While speaking on the theme “Achieving Organizational Strategic Objectives Through Project Portfolio Management (PPM),” Taopheek Babayeju, CEO iCentra identified bad execution as a leading cause of failure of many organisations and projects.
“At the project level, all you try to do is to do the work right. Ensure that timelines are followed, and the costs are controlled. At the portfolio level, what organisations do to succeed is to do the right work by selecting their priorities.
“This is where organisations fail. No organisation has infinite resources. You are always struggling with what is right; what is going to align with the strategic objectives of that organisation,’’ he observed.
During his talk, President, PMI Nigeria Chapter and Business Director, Astridia Global, Paul Omugbe, pointed out agility’s role in a dynamic and volatile work environment.
He said, “As a project manager, you have to be able to deal with the changes both outside and within the project that you are working on. You have to be able to adapt to change in your environment.”
While mulling the ways of transforming challenges into opportunities, Ella Naiman, Partner, Empower, who is also the Co-founder of Generation Empower and President PMI Tanzania Chapter, observed that the current world of work is complex and diverse. For her, organisations need to be more inclusive, acquire people skills and manage varied perspectives.
“To have a diverse team means more innovation and creativity, setting the stage for many more interesting changes.
“However, the challenge on the flip side is that we have these different perspectives that sometimes can cause tension. In terms of my experience, it is really about understanding and hearing different views, adapting and learning how to integrate.”
Experts at the conference agreed that the government has a role to play in collaboration. If a private company is successful in its project, it will improve the country’s economy.
Hence, the government should be inclusive in the process of making legislation by adopting a collaborative approach with the stakeholders, including the community where projects are domiciled.
In addition, the panellists pointed out that influencing government policy, personal development, and citizen education are great goals toward a better project economy in Africa.
National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) has announced the launch of an Inter-Agency Innovation Competition and Awards to stimulate creativity and technological advancement among Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the Federal Government.
NASENI
In a statement issued on Wednesday in Abuja, NASENI said the initiative was designed to harness innovative ideas from public servants that can drive indigenous industrialization, job creation and national progress.
According to the agency, the competition will provide a platform for MDAs to propose solutions in critical sectors such as health, agriculture, education and infrastructure, leveraging science and technology to improve public service delivery and enhance the quality of life for Nigerians.
“The competition seeks to promote collaboration and creativity among MDAs while addressing pressing national challenges through innovation,” the statement said.
NASENI urged interested MDAs to submit their entries through its innovation portal at naseni.gov.ng/innovation.
The agency reiterated its statutory mission “to develop and maintain a dynamic infrastructure to drive Nigeria’s indigenous industrialization, job creation and national progress,” adding that the competition would further strengthen efforts to unlock the nation’s potential through science and technology.
Users of satellite internet service provider Starlink in Nigeria are being required to complete a biometric Know Your Customer (KYC) process as a precondition to continue enjoying their services, according to .biometricupdate.
According to local reports, more than 66,000 Starlink subscribers in the country had a December 31 ultimatum from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to complete the biometric verification or have their connection discontinued.
The process essentially entails linking a Starlkink account with the subscriber’s national digital ID.
The NCC, which is Nigeria’s telecoms industry regulator, is said to have first issued the directive in August last year, setting a three-month deadline which was to elapse on November 19, TechCabal reports.
The body however later extended it to December 31 after consultations with industry stakeholders. The internet account-NIN linkage, the NCC said, is to enhance identity verification and strengthen security within the country’s telecoms space.
Just a few days to the December 31 deadline, Starlink’s Nigeria office sent an email to its subscribers reminding them of the KYC requirement, and warned that all those who fail to comply would be disconnected.
And that once disconnected, reconnection would depend on network capacity in the concerned area.
The service provider said in its email that the process takes less than two minutes and users can complete it by logging in to their account via an app.
One user, quoted by TechCabal, said one needs to upload their selfie biometrics, provide their national identification number (NIN) and then give their consent for the account to be linked to their ID information.
Starlink’s internet service is present in about 155 countries with nine million users, as of 2025. Its growth in Nigeria is said to be rapid, making it the second largest internet service provider in the country, according to The Traffic.
Biometric identification for Starlink subscribers could become a continent-wide trend given that some countries have expressed reservations in opening up their internet space to the company over security concerns.
There’ve been fears that jihadists in countries like Mali and Nigeria may have exploited Starlink terminals to coordinate terror operations, and cybersecurity experts have also warned of risks related to weak regulation, digital sovereignty and data breaches.
The requirement for Starlink internet users to have their accounts linked with the NIN is similar to the SIM-NIN linkage policy which the Nigerian government battled to implement for many years, with many deadline extensions.
In October last year, the NCC, which is was at the forefront of the policy implementation, announced that all active SIM cards across all network providers had complied with the directive which was issued in 2020.
The idea, the federal government argued, was to strengthen security and curb criminality such as kidnappings which are aided and abetted by improperly identified mobile phone numbers.
Mr. Kashifu Inuwa, Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), has urged Northern Nigeria to pivot urgently from traditional commerce to an innovation-driven digital economy for sustainable growth.
NITDA
Inuwa issued the call at the Future Map Foundation Roundtable 1.0 (North-West Edition) in Kano, attributing the region’s sluggish digital adoption not to talent deficits but to the lack of deliberate, coordinated strategies.
He stressed deeper collaboration across academia, private sector players, entrepreneurs, and government, positioning the private sector as the primary innovation engine while government supplies robust policies and an enabling ecosystem.
Inuwa advocated for people-focused, locally tailored innovations that tackle regional challenges head-on, enabling global competitiveness by transitioning from mere technology users to creators of homegrown solutions.
The roundtable convened policymakers, tech founders, and ecosystem stakeholders to forge a comprehensive roadmap for North-West digital transformation, yielding firm commitments to bolster regional innovation policies and public-private synergies.
Inuwa’s push dovetails seamlessly with the Federal Government’s Renewed Hope Agenda, which sets an ambitious target of 95 per cent nationwide digital literacy by 2030, fostering inclusive economic empowerment.
Participants hailed the forum as a pivotal step toward unlocking Northern Nigeria’s tech potential, with NITDA poised to lead implementation through strategic interventions and partnerships.
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