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Strategy Implementation; Key for Economic Development
By:Emmanuel Ulayi PHD
Issues and problems have always confronted society requiring strategies to resolve them.
Those who understand how to strategize will always survive; the ones who do not understand it and never care to learn about it will perish according to Sun Tzu in his book, The Art of War.
Indeed, no nation or organization grows or develops without implementing strategies designed to accomplish their development goals.
So,what then is strategy? Even though Sun Tzu’s definition has set the pace for a better understanding of this concept. The absence of strategy or the inability to implement it could be considered as the major reason why many nations and organisations fail!
Nations rise or fall as a result of their Strategy and the discipline of their Leaders to implement it! The United Arab Emirates and Singapore are examples that show the results of a well designed plan implementing due to strong Leadership!
Harvard Business Review (HBR) defines strategy as “a clear set of choices that defines what the organization is going to do and what it’s not going to do.”
In the same vein, “it is a clear roadmap, consisting of a set of guiding principles or rules, that defines the actions people in business should take and not take) and the things they should prioritize (and not prioritize) to achieve desired goals. It is very important because the resources available to achieve these goals are usually limited.”
Conversely, setting goals, determining actions and mobilizing resources is akin to strategy. Michael Porters calls out the importance of the will to implement pointing out that “the essence of strategy is choosing what not to do.” Buttressing Porter’s submission, Morris Chang confirms ” without strategy, execution is useless.without execution, strategy is useless.”
Nigeria’s economic growth and development in the early 70’s and 80’s were anchored on well defined rolling plans and economic strategic blueprints that were carefully followed and implemented .
What then happened to those lofty political and economic ideas, that’s a question for another day?
The focus of this write up is to emphasize the importance of strategic planning towards organisational growth.
It is however important,to emphasize here that our experience as a nation is that proffering the right strategies have not been the issue but implementation.
Aptly put” In Nigeria planning has not been the problem but that of translating such plans, roadmap into realities.
To this end, the performance of Nigeria’s rolling plans since it’s inception has been that of gaps in implementation and monitoring for results. The inconsistency of income from oil revenue which most of the rolling plan relied on could have sadly resulted in the failures of the plans in meetings developed goals.
The fiscal years 1996-97 experienced declining inflation rate from 29%to 8.5% with GDP showing a positive growth and exchange rates stability.
The target then, was to ensure that by the year 2015, Nigeria would have come of age economically, socially and politically. There was therefore an urgent need to match planning targets in line with strategies earlier evolved within the limits of available resources.
How the Nation could not sustain these positive economic numbers and development indicators has been blamed on corruption, policy inconsistency, political instability, lack of will to implement reforms which now reflects in the poor state of the economy, high inflation rates and higher cost of living. This is the reality… Strategy is important so is the discipline to implement and monitor for impact! This is the pathway Nigeria should follow to catch up with the rest of the world who understand this and strong economic growth to prove this!
Terrorists have killed three soldiers in a fresh attack on a military camp in Kemanji community, Kaiama Local Government Area of Kwara State.
The attack reportedly occurred in the early hours of Monday, with residents saying heavy gunfire echoed across the area during the invasion.
According to local sources, the assailants, suspected to be armed terrorists, stormed the military camp without warning and engaged troops in a fierce gun battle.
The confrontation left three soldiers dead, while other personnel were said to have responded with a reprisal attack to repel the assailants.
One resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity, described the incident as sudden and violent, noting that the attackers took advantage of the early morning hours when some soldiers were asleep.
“Kemanji is a border community close to thick forest areas.
“Few of the soldiers were asleep around 3am when the terrorists invaded their camp and killed three of them before others responded,” the source said. (The Sun)
Prominent activist, Aisha Yesufu, has expressed concern over the ongoing teachers’ strike in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), calling on the minister, Nyesom Wike, to urgently intervene and resolve the crisis.
In a statement on Monday, Yesufu lamented the prolonged closure of public primary schools across the FCT, noting that the situation continues to disrupt the education of thousands of children.
She stressed that education remains a fundamental right and should not be treated with negligence, urging authorities to prioritise the welfare of both teachers and students.
“The continuous strike by teachers in the FCT is unacceptable. Our children cannot keep paying the price for unresolved issues,” she said.
The activist appealed directly to Wike to take decisive steps towards addressing the grievances of the striking teachers, including issues surrounding unpaid salaries and poor working conditions.
According to her, swift intervention by the FCT administration would not only restore academic activities but also rebuild confidence in the public education system.
The strike, which has lingered for weeks, has left many pupils at home, raising concerns among parents over the long term impact on learning.
Malam Nasir El-Rufai, a former governor of Kaduna, has alerted the public to what he called “certain malicious orchestrations” directed against him.
El-Rufai, in a statement signed and released on Sunday by Muyiwa Adekeye, his Media Adviser, said the unwarranted effort to arrest him upon his arrival at Abuja Airport from Cairo on 12 February 2026 served as a clear signal of more troubling developments to follow.
The evident objective of the current scheme, according to the statement, is to secure his indefinite detention through reprehensible tactics, stressing that such conduct is unacceptable, particularly toward a citizen who has made substantial contributions to our country.
He, however, said that the rule of law must never be perverted into a tool of oppression and legal processes should serve the ends of justice, not be employed to deny a citizen his fundamental right to liberty while he stands trial.
The statement stressed that Malam El-Rufai should be accorded full due process guaranteed by law to every citizen, and the persistent disregard for his rights must cease immediately.
The statement recalled that since 16 February 2026, when Malam El-Rufai honoured an invitation from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), he was detained, then transferred to the custody of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) on the night of 18 February.
It said the former governor remains in detention and has been arraigned in two separate high courts.
The statement, however, picked holes in a report headlined “El-Rufai’s trial: Gunmen invade principal witness home” published by a national newspaper, not Nigerian Tribune, on 18 April 2026.
It quoted the article as stating that a witness in the criminal proceedings at the Kaduna State High Court had reported to the police that armed individuals had invaded his residence.
The statement added that the paper included innuendos suggestive of a plot to frame Malam Nasir El-Rufai as the witness linked the incident to his role as a witness in the corruption charges against El-Rufai, specifically one of the nine counts involving the alleged unlawful revocation and reallocation of land.
The article, the statement added, further quoted the witness as alleging that the invasion might be part of an effort to silence him, drawing parallels with the controversial disappearance of Kaduna-based activist Abubakar Idris Dadiyata.
The statement said that while it is the civic duty of every citizen to report crimes to the authorities, it is an entirely different matter to publish false imputations against others.
It said any objective reader would recognise the clear intent behind these statements: to smear Malam Nasir El-Rufai’s reputation, jeopardise his pending bail application at the Kaduna State High Court, and implicate him in serious capital offences.
Part of the statement read, “Malam Nasir El-Rufai is an upstanding and law-abiding citizen who has no connection whatsoever to the incidents described in the publication. Therefore, he has already instructed his legal team to initiate defamation proceedings in this matter.
“Since 2023, Malam El-Rufai has been subjected to an appalling and sustained campaign of innuendos and vilification.
This is a man with a distinguished record of public service. Many will recall his sterling service to the cause of national unity through his principled opposition to opportunism, alongside other senior leaders, during the events leading to the 2022 primaries of the ruling party and thereafter.“
Just in: Terrorists invade military camp, k!ll three soldiers in Kwara
Aisha Yesufu faults FCT teachers’ strike, wants Wike to intervene
El-Rufai issues public alert in prison
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