Bob MajiriOghene Etemiku
The Goethe Institute in Nigeria organised a Project Management workshop in collaboration with the Centre for Contemporary Art, CCA, and 16×16, for social entrepreneurs and Civil Society groups with an inclination for Art and Culture. Seifert Laura, Attaher Maiga and the Afropolitan, Ade Bantu, facilitated the 3-day event. CERLSI’s Bob MajiriOghene Etemiku had a five-minute conversation with Laura Seibert, lead facilitator on Project Management and how it affects Nigeria. Here is the gist:
Q: Here we are with Laura Seibert everyone. Would you like to introduce yourself to our readers please?
A: Of course…(laughter) My name is Laura Seifert, a social manager involved with fund raising and an expert in project management.
Q: Back there in the class you said this is your very first time in Lagos, Nigeria. What are your impressions so far?
A: This is also my very first time in Africa and I am very impressed. You know, I heard many bad things about Nigeria overseas…but they are all not true. Even the traffic is not as bad as they say.
Q: Interesting…so tell us about the ABC Project management course you’re facilitating.
A: The Goethe Institut invited me together with other project managers with respect to the ABC of project management workshop that they are organizing. They wanted us to be able to help project managers to reflect on, and improve on their knowledge. They wanted us to help participants with their social networking abilities.
Q: How do you find the responseof the participants in class today?
A: To be honest, I’m hugely impressed by the level of professionalism that the participants have displayed so far. I can talk to them about things that are very advanced in project management. It’s very interesting probably because the class is very diverse, participants have introduced diverse topics in the subject matter and are giving professional feedbacks.
Q: Okay but if you were to be comparing the workshops you’ve had in other places with this one how would you describe it?
A: Circumstances here are a bit different from other places where I have taught project management. Therefore, even though there are some challenges here and there, it is a learning process for me as well as I go to places with peculiar circumstances.
Q: Is it possible to see Nigeria as a project that can be better managed than it is presently?
A: To be honest, I don’t know enough about Nigeria. However, I can imagine that there are many projects to be done here and that’s why I am happy that we can encourage and empower many project managers to make some changes in the way things are run here. So I suppose its up to you to try to make the changes you think your country needs.
Q: All right, suppose I was to ask for your input on how we can make changes in the Nigerian project, what would that be?
A: (There was a brief hesitation before some prolonged laughter). From what I have seen here in Lagos Nigeria in the few days I have live here, what you need is to be creative in solving some of your problems. You will also need some courage to be able to change some things.
Q: Great…do you have any other thing you would like to tell our readers?
A: Certainly…I hope this would not be my last visit here to Nigeria. I also hope that you all would successfully realize all the projects that you have in mind.
End: Thanks you Laura for your time…exactly four minutes 30 seconds (some laughter)
Bob MajiriOghene EtemikuDeputy Executive Director, Civil Empowerment & Rule of Law Support Initiative, CERLSI; CEO, Bob MajiriOghene Communications, Nigeria @BMCommunica
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