PM Network - July 2015

A Country
on the Cusp
Fueled by the largest oil reserves in sub-Saharan Africa, Nigeria surpassed South Africa in 2014 to become larg- est economy on the continent. Yet for
those who see Nigeria’s potential for competing on
the world stage, it might also be Africa’s most frus-
trating country. For all its promise, Nigeria is beset
with infrastructure obstacles such as an insufficient
power grid and horrific acts of violence perpe-
trated by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram.

The development of a robust national ICT
infrastructure is one way Nigeria
aims to increase prosperity and
stability. And thanks to a series
of successful projects that have
expanded the country’s network
capacities, the sector is booming.

Companies have invested more
then US$32 billion in Nigeria’s
ICT infrastructure, the Guard-
ian newspaper reports. ICT
consumer spending is on pace
to reach US$167 billion in 2020,
up from US$115 billion in 2010,
according to Nigerian government statistics.
Most of the ICT boom is in mobile network
projects. Pyramid Research predicts that by 2019,
Nigeria will have 182 million mobile phone sub-

Nigerian ICT projects are transforming the country’s dynamic economy—but an infusion of project talent would boost its progress.

scribers—more than one per person, on average. (The country’s current population is about 175 million people.) But only

3. 4 percent of households had a fixed-line (DSL or broadband) Internet connection as of 2012, according to a report by the not-for-profit organization Research ICT Africa (RIA). The gap is partly explained by the poor power grid and a shortage of computers, says RIA, but also by a lack of fixed-line infrastructure.

Project practitioners working in Nigeria’s ICT sector say the dearth of infrastructure is partly the result of a difficult project environment. Lagos, Nigeria-based Ifeyinwa Anaele, PMI-RMP, PMP, is a project coordinator for MTN, a Johannesburg, South Africa-based telecommunications company that leads in the Nigerian market. She says indigenous companies have struggled to execute projects, both on their own and in conjunction with multinational organizations, because of a lack of project management acumen. “A lot of projects here are not managed by project management professionals. There’s no specific methodology, and many times those projects fail,” she says.