Management Day: NIM urgers managers to plan for future
The Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM) Chartered on Saturday advocated the need for managers to be futuristic in policies for organisational and national growth and development.
Dr Christiana Atako, acting President, NIM, said this at the institute’s 2022 Management Day Lecture on Saturday in Lagos.
It was reported that the immediate past Governor of Lagos State, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode and nine other NIM members were conferred with fellowship at the event.
Atako described Management Day as a platform that celebrates the ideals and tenets of the management profession.
She noted that setting aside a day for the celebration of the management profession in Nigeria and the world over, was a right step in the right direction.
She said that the NIM’s resolve to bring the issues of management to the consciousness of Nigerians and the rest of the world was always on the front burner.
“We will, therefore, not relent in our efforts to get the World Management Day recognised and declared by both the Federal Government and the United Nations.
“On this note, therefore, we wish to seize this moment to reiterate our call on the Federal Government to support this laudable initiative of the Institute by recognising and declaring November 19 as Management Day in Nigeria.
“It is our belief that the United Nations, inspired by the noble and lofty path as charted by Nigeria, will be propelled to also recognise the need and justification to declare November 19 as International Management Day,” she said.
Addressing the event’s theme, Atako advocated that professional managers should determine to create their future and the future of the country.
She stressed that managers must dream up the future, find reasons to live it, create plans to achieve it, take decisive actions, analyse results, stay focused and be committed to it.
“There is no gainsaying that without proper planning, organising, coordinating, directing and leading, no mortal or organisation will be able to achieve set goals and impact the environment.
“For organisations to predict their future, it is incumbent on them to position themselves strategically to compete favourably in their sphere of influence.
“Summarily, to create a great future in which development and progress would be experienced in leaps and bounds, organisations have to be proactive, forward looking and maintain the best international management practices in all its dealings,” she said.
Pharm. Matthew Azoji, the Managing Director, Neimeth Pharmaceutical Plc, quoting Mr Peter Drucker, father of modern management, as saying that the best way to predict the future was to create it.
Azoji said that innovations in services, products and processes were major drivers of creating the future.
He, however, noted that there would be expected risks and disruptions in creating a better future but what was needed was to take appropriate actions to stop whatever turbulence that accompanies futuristic happenings.
“The most important work for managers is to identify and exploit the changes that have already occured and use them as opportunity to develop a methodology for perceiving and analysing these changes,” he said.
Mrs Chidinma Osuji, the Executive Director, Nigeria Deposit Insurance Cooperation (NDIC), lauded the institute on behalf of other awardees for its commitment to excellence and distinction in the management profession.
Osuji urged the NIM to continue with the good work and pledged that the newly inducted fellows would strive to do more to fulfill the mandate of the institute.
