By Henry Uche, [email protected]
Despite facing endemic challenges including socio-economic and political turbulence bordering on mismanagement of public resources Nigerians are looking forward to better and improved economyfrom the Bola Tinubu administration.
Having known the relevance of risk and hazards management to national economy, the Risk Managers Society of Nigeria (RIMSON) has advocated for the establishment of Office of Risk Management of the Federation.
According to RIMSON, the Office of Risk Management of the Federation can work side-by-side the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA), since Risk Management has clearly become a national security issue, besides many do not see any value addition from the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management in the last administration.
In an exclusive session with a professional risk and hazards manager, Mr. Gus Wiggle, he advised the new administration along with 36 State governors to embrace the concept of risk, hazards and crisis management as an inevitable factor and contributor to smooth administration. According to him, the world at large is fraught with perilous times, evident by the unprecedented socio-economic crises rocking every nation including Nigeria.
Wiggle who is the Founder of Carefirst Consult (Risk Management & insurance matters firm) said though Nigeria is a multi-religious state where people express so much faith, belief and confidence in their God or gods, many Nigerians do not take risk management seriously and would treat risk-related issues with kid gloves However risk remains a phenomenon that must not be relegated.
Wiggle maintained that the continuous change of democratically- elected government in Nigeria since 1999 is an opportunity to amplify the need for a robust Risk Management agenda for the new administration.
According to him, various risk management strategies have been put forward by RIMSON after identification and analysis of various risks cutting across different sectors of our national life for more than three decades, unfortunately, little or nothing has been done in this regard at the top.
“The society has proffered risk management strategies for addressing the myriads of socio-economic and security challenges and emerging threats facing the nation. Drawing from our various stand in risk management at national level, the importance and relevance of risk management as the hub and yardstick for policy formulation and execution for the new administration cannot be downplayed. Thus, Office of Risk Management of the Federation is an urgent national security issue”
The risk management consultant reminded Nigeria that Nations across the globe have recognized the relevance of Risk Management to their national existence beyond the regulatory and compliance roles of the past decades. Therefore, Nigeria should not be an exception in deploying Risk Management for national survival, growth, and resilience, taking the realities of the present and emerging global socio-economic challenges into consideration.
“Risk Management must be integrated into the national life. It’s awareness across various government establishments and agencies must be increased. Risk management education should also be integrated into the nation’s education system, while the goal of making it a national culture be progressively and vigorously pursued.”
The former Head of Nigeria Insurers’ Association (NIA) added that the failure of the Naira redesign policy of the immediate administration is a perfect example of failure of risk management implementation, noting that an external risk management oversight would have helped in preventing the debacle the nation and her citizens were subjected to.
“The economic and social impact of the policy is yet to be fully quantified. As an issue of urgent national security, we reiterate our call for the Office of Risk Management of the Federation which will be saddled with the following tasks among others: Coordinating the multifaceted risk management process from diverse sectors of the economy being monitored in silos by the various agencies tasked with specific risks.
“This Office will also be tasked with providing risk management insights to every policy formulation, budgeting, and implementation. The Office would ensure that the long-term impacts of every policy and bilateral agreement are clearly x-rayed before they are ratified, especially with the emerging global geopolitical shifts.
“The Office will ensure all existing threats and emerging ones locally and globally are identified. It gives inputs to all proactive measures to be implemented to forestall the current reactionary pattern of response with its attendant losses”