The Federal Government has been urged to strengthen Nigeria’s institutions to ensure that public policies and services remain effective despite changes in political leadership and support sustained economic development.
The call was made on Monday at the 2026 Annual National Management Conference of the Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM), held at Tafawa Balewa Square in Lagos.
The conference, themed “Sixty-Five Years of Management Excellence: Strengthening Institutional Governance in Nigeria”, brought together management professionals and other stakeholders to discuss institutional governance and national development.
Leadership and management expert Dakuku Peterside said weak institutions, policy discontinuity and poor implementation had limited Nigeria’s ability to translate its natural resources, human capital and entrepreneurial capacity into sustained economic growth.
Peterside, a former Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, argued that Nigeria’s development challenge was less about a lack of resources and more about the inability to manage them consistently through effective institutions.
“Oil in the ground is not prosperity. A large population is not automatically a demographic dividend. A national budget is not development. A law passed by the National Assembly is not reform. A policy document is not implementation,” he said.
According to him, sustainable development requires institutions capable of planning, coordinating, implementing, monitoring and adjusting national priorities over time.
Peterside cited historical per-capita income figures to illustrate what he described as the consequences of weak institutional capacity. He noted that Nigeria had a higher per-capita income than China in 1962 based on the figures he referenced, but was overtaken by China by 2000.
He also cited Malaysia as an example of a country that had started with a higher per-capita income than Nigeria and subsequently widened the gap.
“Potential is not destiny. History does not reward potential; it rewards organised potential,” Peterside said.
He argued that countries that had achieved stronger economic performance invested in human capital, developed professional bureaucracies capable of planning beyond election cycles and built institutions that could maintain policies despite changes in government.
“Development is not an event. It is an institutional habit,” he added.
Peterside also linked institutional quality to private-sector investment, saying businesses needed predictable rules and policies to make long-term decisions.
He identified inconsistent regulations, opaque procurement processes, weak public-sector management, poor data and inadequate accountability as factors that could discourage investment and undermine economic performance.
He also warned that excessive political influence over public institutions could weaken professionalism and public confidence.
“When institutions are politicised, competence becomes optional,” he said.
The call for institutional reform was also supported by the Alara of Ilara Kingdom in Epe Division, Lagos State, Oba Olufolarin Ogunsanwo, who served as guest of honour and keynote speaker at the conference.
Ogunsanwo said Nigeria needed to move away from personality-driven leadership towards institution-driven governance, where public institutions could function effectively regardless of who occupied political office.
“No nation can rise above the strength of its institutions,” the monarch said.
He said strong institutions were essential for stability, accountability, continuity and public confidence, adding that institutional knowledge and public resources should not be overly dependent on individual office holders.
“This is why Nigeria must deliberately move from personality-driven leadership to institution-driven governance,” he said.
The monarch urged leaders to focus more on strengthening the systems within institutions than on the individuals occupying positions of authority.
“The important question should not always be, ‘Who is in charge?’ The more important question is, ‘What system is in place?’” he said.
Ogunsanwo identified competence, integrity and accountability as key foundations of effective institutional governance. He said public officials must have the skills and judgement required for their responsibilities and place institutional interests above personal gain.
“Where there is authority, there must be accountability; where there are resources, there must be transparency,” he said.
He added that the success of a leader should also be measured by whether the systems established during their tenure continued to deliver results after they left office.
“A truly great leader is therefore not merely one who achieves results while in office, but one who builds systems that continue to produce results after leaving office,” he said.
The President and Chairman of the Council of NIM, Commodore Abimbola Ayuba, called for greater involvement of the institute in national policymaking as it marked 65 years of professional management development.
Ayuba said NIM had contributed to the professionalisation of governance and management through training, certification, executive education and research.
He urged federal and state governments to make greater use of the institute’s research and policy expertise when developing and implementing public policies.
“NIM houses six and a half decades of strategic management research, policy insights, and practical administrative models,” Ayuba said.
He also encouraged government agencies and private organisations to draw on NIM’s multidisciplinary membership and training programmes.
Ayuba noted that the institute’s membership cuts across sectors including the military, medicine, engineering, law, education, finance and public administration, providing a broad pool of expertise for addressing complex national challenges.
He pledged that NIM would strengthen its partnerships with ministries, departments and agencies, private companies and international organisations to improve public-sector efficiency and develop resilient management systems.
The conference’s focus on institutional reform comes amid concerns about policy implementation, infrastructure deficits, productivity and the need for a more predictable environment for private-sector investment.
Peterside said the strength of Nigeria’s institutions would ultimately determine whether the country could translate its resources and potential into lasting prosperity.
“Strong institutions reduce uncertainty, and uncertainty is one of the greatest taxes a society can impose on itself,” he said.
He added that Nigeria’s development would remain vulnerable if public institutions continued to depend heavily on individuals rather than systems capable of surviving changes in political leadership.
“No serious country can build lasting prosperity accidentally,” Peterside concluded.
