VUCA as a management concept was coined by the US military after the 9/11 attack on the world trade centre . That attack took the USA by surprise and its impact on their psyche inspired the VUCA environment that has become the focus governments and businesses.
The more I teach this concept to my post Graduate Students and top Business Executives from across the world, the more I see every component of this concept manifested in Nigeria. This makes Nigeria a perfect case study .
The acronym VUCA stands for volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity respectively You now can see why Nigeria is a perfect case study of this concept. Nigeria operates in VUCA environment indeed.
V: Nigeria is a volatile country. Everything is volatile, politics, religion, business, family life, just name it and it is easily a volatile situation. If you dare ask a question you will be met by another . You can hardly have a decent conversation without it degenerating into a chaotic situation. Genocide is going on daily in this country. You are not save traveling by roads , rails or by air . Even ASO Rock/ The Villa is not exempted from Volatility . It showed up recently when gunfire was exchanged between security operatives saddled to keep the place safe.
U: Uncertainty pervades every aspect of our national life. Children enroll for a four year university programme and seven years on, there is no end in sight . Salary is uncertain . The jenwu jenwu stock market is a cash and carry voodoo trading. You leave your home in the morning and you never know whether you will return again. Electricity is uncertain. Fights are uncertain. Appointments and agreements are not respected. Relationships are uncertain. Trying very hard to find certainty somewhere and I cannot see any.
C: We live in a complex nation. It is so complex we cannot count numbers. We don’t know how many we are in this country. We don’t know how much we earn. Budgeting is so complex Nigeria is the only place in world where it has to be padded. Everything is a contradiction .We import what we have and export what we do not have. We even borrow to build the infrastructure of other nations. Recovered loots are being relooted. It’s so complex one cannot explain the rationale for a failed ruling party still campaigning to continue in power.
A: Nothing is straight forward. Ambiguity is the second nature of Nigeria. The definition of Corruption in Nigeria is ambiguous. It all depends on where you are or where you come from. It is the reason a party that campaigned to “give Corruption a bloody nose” turns out to be the most corrupt in the history of Nigeria. Ambiguity is the reason why someone without a known identity would want to be the president of these great country. Haba zamaa. As a matter of fact the highest echelon of the ruling party is occupied by those with dodgy credentials. They were pardoned as soon as they crossed over to the party.
The Roadside Economist: Nigeria in VUCA Economy .
VUCA as a management concept was coined by the US military after the 9/11 attack on the world trade centre . That attack took the USA by surprise and its impact on their psyche inspired the VUCA environment that has become the focus governments and businesses.
The more I teach this concept to my post Graduate Students and top Business Executives from across the world, the more I see every component of this concept manifested in Nigeria. This makes Nigeria a perfect case study .
The acronym VUCA stands for volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity respectively You now can see why Nigeria is a perfect case study of this concept. Nigeria operates in VUCA environment indeed.
V: Nigeria is a volatile country. Everything is volatile, politics, religion, business, family life, just name it and it is easily a volatile situation. If you dare ask a question you will be met by another . You can hardly have a decent conversation without it degenerating into a chaotic situation. Genocide is going on daily in this country. You are not save traveling by roads , rails or by air . Even ASO Rock/ The Villa is not exempted from Volatility . It showed up recently when gunfire was exchanged between security operatives saddled to keep the place safe.
U: Uncertainty pervades every aspect of our national life. Children enroll for a four year university programme and seven years on, there is no end in sight . Salary is uncertain . The jenwu jenwu stock market is a cash and carry voodoo trading. You leave your home in the morning and you never know whether you will return again. Electricity is uncertain. Fights are uncertain. Appointments and agreements are not respected. Relationships are uncertain. Trying very hard to find certainty somewhere and I cannot see any.
C: We live in a complex nation. It is so complex we cannot count numbers. We don’t know how many we are in this country. We don’t know how much we earn. Budgeting is so complex Nigeria is the only place in world where it has to be padded. Everything is a contradiction .We import what we have and export what we do not have. We even borrow to build the infrastructure of other nations. Recovered loots are being relooted. It’s so complex one cannot explain the rationale for a failed ruling party still campaigning to continue in power.
A: Nothing is straight forward. Ambiguity is the second nature of Nigeria. The definition of Corruption in Nigeria is ambiguous. It all depends on where you are or where you come from. It is the reason a party that campaigned to “give Corruption a bloody nose” turns out to be the most corrupt in the history of Nigeria. Ambiguity is the reason why someone without a known identity would want to be the president of these great country. Haba zamaa. As a matter of fact the highest echelon of the ruling party is occupied by those with dodgy credentials. They were pardoned as soon as they crossed over to the party.
This our reality. We operate in a VUCA environment and therefore need the skills to manage in this environment. Folks, It’s time to get serious with our destiny. We cannot continue like this. We need leaders that can turn our volatile nation into a fundamental and common sensical country. We can turn the uncertainty into an unraveling environment where we can discover solutions to our numerous problems. Certainly with our collective agreement to change and turn things around we will move from VUCA to FUCA.
This our reality. We operate in a VUCA environment and therefore need the skills to manage in this environment. Folks, It’s time to get serious with our destiny. We cannot continue like this. We need leaders that can turn our volatile nation into a fundamental and common sensical country. We can turn the uncertainty into an unraveling environment where we can discover solutions to our numerous problems. Certainly with our collective agreement to change and turn things around we will move from VUCA to FUCA.