Nigeria 2.0: Goal-Driven Governance in Nigeria — Ministers must be Accountable for their Portfolios
I am always in awe of how governance is run in my home country, Nigeria. With every tenure, ministers and commissioners are assigned portfolios at both state and national levels. The appointment process appears to be rigorous but it merely ceremonial and superficial. This essay is not me throwing shades at the current approach but proposing a different way: Focused and Goal-Driven — OKRs in Governance.
Recently, I switched roles from engineering to product management and one of my first tasks was to come up with Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) with the team. My first encounter with OKRs was in 2015 via the Google Ventures website, re:Work. I drafted some for personally but I had no idea how it works at organization-level. Hence, journeyed to study more. I revisited the re:Work website for a quick recap, and grabbed the book: Measure What Matters — John Doer.
Reading took two weeks to complete. This gave me holistic view of how organizations have exceeded expectations with this tool: OKRs. To my surprise, deploying OKRs was not limited to for-profit organizations such as Google, Intuit, and Intel, likewise used by non-profit such as the Gates Foundation and Bono. Startups have also used OKRs to drive focus which helped them scale very fast. So, What then is OKRs — Objectives and Key Results?
What is Objective and Key Results (OKRs)?
As defined by Wikipedia:
Objectives and key results is a framework for defining and tracking objectives and their outcomes. … The key result has to be measurable. But at the end you can look, and without any arguments: Did I do that or did I not do it? Yes? No? Simple. No judgments in it.”
To add more juice, as published on the WhatMatters.com FAQs, “The definition of “OKRs” is “Objectives and Key Results.” It is a collaborative goal-setting tool used by teams and individuals to reach for their most ambitious goals with measurable results. OKRs are how you track progress.”
To wrap up on defining OKRs, an Objective simply what is to be achieved, no more and no less. By definition, objectives are significant, concrete, action-oriented, and (ideally) inspirational. And Key Results benchmark and monitor how we get to the objective. Below is my OKR for this essay:
Objective: Communicate how OKRs can be used in Governance
Key Result 1: Provide 3-paragraph summary on OKRs, readable in less than 20 seconds
Key Result 2: Provide a drafted plan to start using OKRs
Key Result 3: Write 2 OKR examples for 2 ministry portfolios in Nigeria
I saw some recorded videos of some candidates at the Nigerian National Assembly. They were quite engaging and exciting but too qualitative. The question I kept asking myself: How would we measure impact or performance in all these? I remember Festus Keyamo wittingly schooling the National Assembly on legal matters — who as later handed the Minister of State for Niger-Delta Affairs. Another is Babatunde Fashola, a former governor of commercial hub Lagos state who headed that super ministry in the first term, was named minister for housing and works. So much for the ministers’ list, how can we hold these appointees accountable? OKRs to the rescue.
At this point, I would paraphrase the Holy Bible in Proverbs 29:18 — Where there are no definite, focused goals, the people run in different directions. This establishes a premise: portfolio appointees should and MUST be given clear objectives on WHAT is required of them to be delivered over a specific timeframe. 4 years is too long a time to assess the performance of these portfolio officers. Nigeria needs results NOW and this can only be achieved through clearly defined actionable and measurable goals — OKRs.
From my point of view and the current situation in the country, it is imperative that President Muhammadu Buhari demands his Cabinet members to assess the current situation in their portfolios and provide goals which can be delivered in one year. These goals must then be broken down into quarterly or bi-annually deliverables that are measurable and providing constant updates to people they were appointed to serve. Without such process, we would have to wait another 4 years to realize that power, housing and works CANNOT be lumped up into one portfolio.
Next Steps
The OKRs process is very iterative and usually takes organizations between 12 to 24 months to get right. Even at that, organizations using OKRs are constantly owning and evolving their OKRs process for their ecosystem.
What Should PMB Do?
Request ALL appointed portfolio holders including ministers and special advisers to assess their portfolio with the following mandate:
- Write out 4 Objectives that each wants to achieve in their first year
- Provide a minimum of 4 Key Results per Objective which can be delivered in 6 months
- Refine OKRs until the entire FEC agrees
- Make OKRs of each portfolio public to Nigeria
- Portfolio holders commit to a bimonthly (every two months) updates to the public on OKR progress
OKRs DO NOT succeed without strong leadership commitment. Hence PMB and the FEC MUST demonstrate strong commitment to the process and growth in Nigeria for it to work. Besides, OKRs is no silver bullet but it is a proven process that has reformed a company started in 1999 in a garage into a 136.8 billion USD in 2018.
Example OKRs
Ministry of Science and Technology
Objective: Make Nigeria the Technology Hub in Africa
KR 1: Establish resident AI knowledge exchange programs for 20 technical colleges with top international school
KR 2: Fund 10 universities driving innovation with start-of-the-art technologies of national impact with $200k each
KR 3: Digitize 30% of existing paper-run Government processes
Ministry of Women Affairs
Objective: Increase Women Empowerment
KR 1: Reduce the illiteracy level for girl-child by 40%
KR 2: Setup 6 functioning STEM training centers in IDP camps for women
KR 3: Sponsor 70 SMBs owned by women to top international business schools
I hope you found this resourceful. Kindly share your thoughts and comments — looking forward to your feedback.
