The organisation called “Nigeria”, By Dipo Baruwa

Nigeria, since its independence in 1960, has been a subject of continuous debate regarding its identity and its struggle to fulfill its potential. While conventionally understood as a sovereign state with defined territory, government, and international recognition, the article proposes a more fundamental re-evaluation: Nigeria should be viewed as an organization.

This perspective argues that development is not a product of geographical size, population, natural resources, or constitutional declarations, as often cited by Nigerian leaders. Instead, development is the consequence of how human beings organize themselves to pursue collective objectives. Every successful society, regardless of its formal designation, functions as an organization of people, institutions, resources, incentives, and ideas directed towards a common purpose.

Viewed as an organization, Nigeria possesses a governing board, executive leadership, operational units, stakeholders, performance targets, resource allocation systems, internal conflicts, and competing interests. It operates with formal rules and informal norms, managing immense assets and significant liabilities. The organization develops plans, implements policies, raises revenue, manages personnel, and delivers services, seeking legitimacy from its citizens and recognition from external partners.

The fundamental challenge, the article contends, is that while many organizations are deliberately designed around a shared mission, the organization called Nigeria has spent much of its existence struggling to define, internalize, and align around a common purpose. This internal disarray may explain why a nation endowed with a large domestic market, abundant natural resources, entrepreneurial citizens, and strategic importance continues to find development elusive. The issue may transcend mere leadership failure, resource constraints, or policy inconsistency, pointing instead to a deeper organizational identity crisis.