By David Lawani, Abuja
Leadership and public policy expert, Dr Dakuku Peterside, has blamed Nigeria’s failure to convert its abundant natural and human resources into widespread prosperity on weak institutions, poor management and inconsistent policy implementation.
Peterside spoke at the 65th Annual National Management Conference of the Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM), where he identified institutional capacity and leadership quality as critical factors determining whether resources produce development.
He said Nigeria’s fundamental problem was not a shortage of resources but the inability of institutions responsible for managing them to deliver measurable outcomes.
Peterside urged the country to shift from natural-resource wealth to institutional wealth, arguing that oil revenues and other resources must be invested in productive assets, including education, infrastructure, technology, manufacturing and human capital.
“Development occurs when natural wealth is converted into institutional wealth,” he said.
According to him, institutional wealth includes capable people, credible systems, reliable laws, efficient public agencies, transparent processes and productive enterprises.
Peterside cited Botswana and South Korea as examples of countries that demonstrated how strong institutions, effective management and consistent policies could drive economic transformation.
He said Botswana leveraged its diamond resources through political stability, secure property rights and prudent public financial management.
Peterside referred to comparisons involving Nigeria, China and Malaysia, noting that Nigeria had at one point been ahead on the cited per-capita income measure before being overtaken as the other countries pursued consistent development strategies.
“Potential is not destiny. History does not reward potential; it rewards organised potential,” Peterside said.
The former lawmaker warned that Nigeria’s dependence on oil revenues exposed the economy to external shocks while encouraging rent-seeking and weakening incentives for diversification.
He said the country should focus less on how much oil it possessed and more on whether petroleum wealth was being used to finance transformation or merely sustain consumption.
Peterside called for merit, accountability, measurable performance, institutional memory and professionalism to become central principles of public management.
“Institutions become strong not because they occupy impressive buildings, but because they deliver predictable outcomes,” he said.
Peterside stressed that even well-designed policies would fail if implementing institutions lacked the capacity and independence required to execute them.
Also speaking, the Alara of Ilara Kingdom, Oba Dr Olufolarin Olukayode Ogunsanwo, identified institutional weakness and poor leadership as major obstacles to Nigeria’s development.
The monarch called for deliberate efforts to build strong institutions and cultivate leaders with competence, character and vision.
In his remarks, President and Chairman of the Council of NIM, Commodore Abimbola Ayuba, said Nigeria could not achieve meaningful progress without abandoning practices that had hindered development.
“The operating environment must be conducive and peaceful for the nation to excel,” Ayuba said.
He charged professional managers to become agents of change and to strengthen Nigeria’s institutions.
