H. Pierson

In an era of relentless disruption—driven by artificial intelligence, climate transition, shifting demographics, and geopolitical shocks—boards of directors in Africa and other emerging markets face a profound challenge: Are we fit for the future?

Next-generation board composition is not just a governance trend—it’s a strategic necessity. Today’s effective boards are being reimagined to be digital, diverse, and decisive.

1. Digital Fluency Is No Longer Optional

Technology is reshaping every industry. From fintech and e-commerce to AI-enabled operations and cybersecurity threats, digital disruption is already in the boardroom—whether boards are ready or not.

Yet, many African and emerging market boards remain digitally underpowered. Few have directors with firsthand experience in tech-enabled business models, cybersecurity governance, or data strategy.

Boards must proactively recruit digital talent, not just rely on internal CIO briefings. This doesn’t mean every director must be a coder—but boards need members who understand how tech is transforming value chains, customer behavior, and risk exposure.

2. Diversity Unlocks Strategic Perspective

Diversity—across gender, age, professional background, geography, and ethnicity—is no longer about optics. It is about unlocking better decisions and mitigating groupthink. Diverse boards are proven to outperform on innovation, risk management, and stakeholder alignment.

In African markets, where youth populations are dominant and informal sectors thrive, boards must reflect the societies and customer bases they serve.

Ask:

How many board members are under 50?

How many have deep knowledge of local or regional consumer behavior?

Is the board pipeline inclusive and intentional?

Diverse boards are more adaptive, more relevant, and more resilient.

3. Decisiveness in an Age of Volatility

The next-gen board is not only wise—it’s agile. It can make bold decisions amid ambiguity. That means:

Faster responses to crises.

Comfort with scenario planning and uncertainty.

Empowerment of management, balanced with robust challenge.

Traditional board cultures often favor lengthy deliberation and consensus. But in today’s environment, inaction is a decision—and often the wrong one.

Board processes must evolve. Annual reviews are not enough. Real-time dashboards, ad hoc virtual briefings, and rapid convening of risk or strategy committees are now best practice.

Rethinking Board Composition: A Strategic Exercise

Leading organizations are using skills matrices and succession roadmaps to ensure their boards align with future strategy—not past credentials. That includes:

Bringing in directors with cybersecurity, digital transformation, or ESG expertise.

Appointing younger directors or creating advisory boards as digital sounding boards.

Balancing seasoned governance experience with entrepreneurial thinking.

Key Questions for the Boardroom

Does our board reflect the future of our market, workforce, and customers?

Are we equipped to oversee digital disruption and tech risk?

Do we have the diversity of thought needed to innovate and respond to crisis?

Is our board structure agile enough for today’s pace of change?

Conclusion: The Time to Reimagine is Now

Boards that remain traditional in structure, static in membership, and slow in decision-making will find themselves outpaced by more agile competitors. In contrast, next-gen boards—digital, diverse, and decisive—are shaping the future of corporate leadership across Africa and beyond.

The future doesn’t wait. Neither should your board.

The world is in flux. From geopolitical instability and currency shocks to climate disasters, AI-driven disruption, and social unrest, volatility is no longer episodic — it’s structural. For boards of directors in Africa and other emerging markets, this volatile environment presents a pressing challenge: Can we make fast, informed decisions when it matters most?

Decisiveness at the board level has become a strategic differentiator. Companies with agile, responsive boards are not only better at navigating crises — they’re more likely to emerge stronger.

Why Decisiveness Matters More Than Ever

Traditionally, boards have been seen as oversight bodies: deliberate, consensus-driven, and process-focused. While these traits ensure rigor and accountability, they can also slow down action when speed is critical.

In an era where a single tweet, cyberattack, or policy shift can erase billions in value overnight, inaction is no longer a neutral choice — it’s a liability.

Examples of Where Decisiveness Counts

Crisis Response: Boards must quickly authorize emergency funding, operational pivots, or communication strategies.

Strategic Shifts: Entering new markets, divesting underperforming units, or responding to disruptive competitors.

Regulatory & ESG Pressures: Navigating sudden changes in environmental, governance, or human rights expectations.

Talent & Leadership Decisions: Appointing or replacing CEOs, especially during periods of underperformance or scandal.

Barriers to Decisiveness at the Board Level

Several cultural and structural factors can inhibit decisive action:

Overemphasis on Consensus: Waiting for every director to agree can delay urgent decisions.

Limited Information Flow: Boards reliant on outdated or overly filtered data struggle to act fast.

Boardroom Hierarchies: Strong voices can dominate discussions, while newer or diverse members stay silent.

Infrequent Meetings: Traditional quarterly cycles are too slow for today’s crises.

Building a More Decisive Board: Key Practices

1. Adopt Agile Governance Models

Use ad hoc committees, virtual meetings, and fast-track approval processes for high-risk or time-sensitive issues.

2. Empower Subcommittees with Authority

Give finance, audit, or risk committees pre-delegated authority to act quickly within defined parameters.

3. Integrate Scenario Planning into Strategy

Simulate crises and stress-test decisions to build confidence and preparedness before real volatility hits.

4. Use Real-Time Data

Invest in dashboards and briefings that give directors timely insights — not just retrospective reports.

5. Cultivate a Culture of Constructive Dissent

Diverse, independent-minded boards that encourage challenge and debate are more likely to act boldly — and wisely.

The Role of the Chair: Catalyst or Bottleneck?

The board chair plays a pivotal role in shaping the board’s decisiveness. A strong chair:

Knows when to accelerate or slow down decision-making.

Encourages clarity over perfection.

Facilitates rapid consensus when needed, without silencing dissent.

Three Questions Every Board Should Ask Today

When was the last time we made a bold, time-sensitive decision?

Do we have protocols for rapid response in times of crisis?

Are we too focused on process at the expense of impact?

Conclusion: Decide to Lead, or Risk Being Left Behind

In the age of volatility, the most valuable boards are not just wise — they are decisive. They blend judgment with urgency, rigor with speed, and oversight with action. For boards in emerging markets, where uncertainty is often magnified, decisiveness is not just good governance — it’s survival strategy.

When the next shock hits, will your board be ready to lead — or still debating what to do?

In a world marked by volatility—from geopolitical friction and cyber warfare to climate shifts and technology disruption—the boardroom is no longer just a site of oversight. It has become a frontline of strategic decision-making, institutional resilience, and societal accountability.

The traditional paradigms of governance, built for linear and largely domestic business models, are proving inadequate. Today’s board directors are being thrust into a dynamic landscape where global supply chains are fragile, stakeholder expectations are heightened, and decisions carry both reputational and regulatory consequences.

A Board’s Role Has Fundamentally Changed

Gone are the days when directors could rely solely on quarterly reports and compliance updates. The new reality demands sharper visibility into digital transformation, risk interdependence, ethical leadership, and long-term sustainability. Boards must now be equipped to grapple with questions that didn’t exist a decade ago:

How do we govern in a hybrid, borderless digital economy?

Are we resilient against not just financial shocks, but also systemic disruptions, such as a cyberattack with geopolitical undertones?

What frameworks ensure our climate commitments are not just stated, but embedded?

How can we assess and challenge the strategic integrity of AI tools used across our operations?

What does fiduciary duty mean in an age where social and environmental performance increasingly drives financial outcomes?

The Quiet Crisis: Competency Gaps at the Top

Many boards still function with outdated governance tools and limited insight into emerging domains. In sectors like finance, oil & gas, telecoms, and manufacturing, where the pace of change is relentless, this creates a dangerous disconnect between boardroom decisions and market realities.

The growing gap between directors’ governance responsibilities and their capacity to effectively fulfill them is now seen as a hidden risk across many industries. And regulators, investors, and even employees are starting to notice.

What Future-Ready Boards Are Doing Differently

Boards that are rising to meet this moment are doing three things well:

Expanding the Definition of Governance
They are not limiting themselves to regulatory compliance. Instead, they’re embedding strategic foresight into how they govern digital systems, organizational culture, and innovation.

Interrogating Risk in Layers
Rather than treating risk as a fixed category, forward-thinking boards are viewing it as layered, systemic, and deeply interwoven, spanning from geopolitical exposure to supply chain fragility to algorithmic bias.

Linking Purpose to Capital
These boards are translating environmental and social commitments into financing strategy, brand differentiation, and value creation. They are not waiting for ESG ratings to catch up—they’re setting the pace.

Rethinking the Learning Curve for Directors

No one steps into a boardroom prepared to meet all these demands instinctively. This is where tailored, context-driven development becomes vital. Directors need more than technical workshops—they need an ecosystem of continuous learning that aligns with real-time shifts in the world around them.

They need to understand what it means to lead through ambiguity, to govern digital infrastructure ethically, to ask the right questions about AI and cybersecurity, and to navigate sustainability not as a tick-box, but as an investment philosophy.

At H. Pierson Associates, we’ve built our Board School to answer precisely this call. With over three decades of experience advising and upskilling boards across sectors, we’ve seen firsthand what separates resilient institutions from the rest—it starts at the top, with directors who are confident not just in their knowledge, but in their ability to adapt, interrogate, and lead through complexity.

A Final Word: Governance as Strategy

In times of relative calm, governance is often viewed as routine. But in times like these, governance is strategy. The most valuable asset a company has right now is not just its capital or technology—it’s the clarity, agility, and foresight of its board.

The future belongs to directors who are willing to unlearn, relearn, and lead differently. And those who do will not only safeguard their institutions—they will shape the next generation of enterprise.

If you want to see the future of digital payments, look east.

By 2028, Southeast Asia’s (SEA) ecommerce market is projected to hit $325 billion-more than doubling from $137.8 billion in 2023, growing at an annual rate of 18.7%. Underpinning this growth is a payments revolution that has reshaped how consumers transact, merchants scale, and policymakers govern. It is a quiet but profound shift, and Nigeria has much to learn.

The similarities are striking. SEA is as diverse, fragmented, and mobile-first as Nigeria. Many of its markets were once heavily reliant on cash, informal transactions, and offline channels. Today, they are leapfrogging ahead – thanks to a deliberate rethinking of payments infrastructure, regulation, and merchant enablement.

As Nigeria confronts its own digital payment inflection point, here are five powerful lessons from Southeast Asia’s experience:

1. From Patchwork to Interoperability: Real-Time Payments Lead the Charge

Across SEA, domestic real-time payment systems (RTPs) like Thailand’s PromptPay, Malaysia’s DuitNow, and Indonesia’s BI-FAST are now critical infrastructure. In Thailand alone, RTP transactions accounted for 29% of e-commerce volume in 2023, projected to grow steadily by 2028.

Nigeria’s NIBSS Instant Payment (NIP) and NQR platforms already show promise. But SEA’s edge lies in how they have standardised protocols across banks, mobile wallets, and platforms, ensuring seamless interoperability. That’s where Nigeria must go next. A fragmented payments ecosystem will not drive scale.

2. Mobile Wallets Are Not Just a Product — They Are a Platform

In Indonesia, mobile wallet users are expected to grow by 53 million from 2023 to 2028. In Vietnam, 17 million new users will join. In many SEA countries, wallets have evolved into multi-service platforms — offering savings, Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL), insurance, and QR payments, creating stickiness and financial inclusion.

Compare that to Nigeria, where wallets are still largely transactional. The opportunity? Deepen product layers. Imagine wallets that embed merchant loyalty schemes, savings circles, or cross-border remittances all within a single, secure interface. The demand exists. The design ambition needs to catch up.

3. Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) Fills the Credit Access Gap

SEA’s BNPL users are growing by 15.2% CAGR, with markets like Indonesia projected to reach 80 million users by 2028. It is not just a consumer credit product—it is a business enabler, increasing conversion rates and average order values, especially among the unbanked and uncarded.

Nigeria’s financial institutions and fintechs have yet to unlock BNPL at scale. With 70% of Nigerians lacking access to formal credit, BNPL presents a low-risk, high-impact lever. But it must be accompanied by robust risk analytics, ethical lending practices, and collaboration with regulators to avoid debt traps.

4. Payments as a Strategic Growth Lever for Merchants

SEA merchants who introduced new payment options reported tangible benefits: 60% saw revenue increase, 55% noted better user experience, and 54% improved security. In markets like Malaysia and Vietnam, merchants are actively prioritising payment strategy alongside product and logistics.

Yet in Nigeria, many SMEs still view payments as a back-office function, something to “sort out” after growth. That mindset must change. Payments are no longer just an enabler; they are a driver of customer loyalty, retention, and market expansion. Forward-thinking Nigerian businesses should make payments central to their commercial strategy.

5. Cross-Border Readiness Is the Next Frontier

In SEA, intra-regional e-commerce is booming. Cross-border ecommerce is expected to reach $14.6 billion by 2028, a 2.8x increase from 2023. Initiatives like Project Nexus aim to unify Time Payment systems across markets, reducing friction and unlocking scale.

Nigeria’s trade ties with West Africa—and increasingly with the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) – could benefit from a similar playbook. If payment providers and banks collaborate to build interoperable systems across borders, the country could lead the next wave of pan-African commerce.

What Should Nigeria Do Next?

Invest in ecosystem interoperability: Unify bank, fintech, and telco rails through common standards.

Deepen mobile wallet use cases: Expand wallets into financial wellness platforms.

Support inclusive credit: Scale ethical BNPL models to reach underserved segments.

Make payments a board-level conversation: Tie payment innovation directly to revenue goals.

Look beyond Nigeria: Build for cross-border from day one, especially with West Africa and AfCFTA markets.

SEA’s payment evolution was not accidental. It was the result of focused investments, policy innovation, and cross-industry collaboration. Nigeria has similar ingredients. But to unlock them, strategy alone is not enough; execution is everything.

Because in the world of digital payments, those who build for scale and execution will define the next decade.

Billions have been lost on digital transformation initiatives that promised the future but delivered disappointment. New software was deployed over outdated processes. AI pilots with no real business case. Employees excluded. Strategy written but never executed.

It was not a transformation. It was decoration.

Now, as artificial intelligence accelerates, the risk is even greater, especially for leaders who equate technology adoption with progress but ignore the foundations of value creation, culture, and execution.

To avoid repeating history, we need to rethink what digital transformation truly means. Not more tools. Not more hype. But a structured, business-first approach that links innovation to outcomes.

Here are 10 essential principles to guide that journey:

1. Business-Led, Tech-Enabled

AI should serve strategy and not drive it. Every initiative must begin with clear business objectives.

DBS Bank in Singapore transformed its operations by anchoring AI investments to its core mission. This approach led to a 50% reduction in the cost-to-income ratio for serving digital customers compared to traditional ones.

2. Holistic Transformation

Transformation is not about plugging digital gaps. It is about rethinking the business model from the ground up.

Ping An in China reinvented itself as a technology-powered health and finance platform. This strategic shift contributed to a 9.1% year-on-year increase in operating profit attributable to shareholders in 2024.

3. Human-Centric AI

AI should augment, not displace, human potential.

Unilever leveraged AI to enhance demand forecasting, improving prediction accuracy and leading to better resource allocation and planning across departments.

4. Ethics by Design

Trust is now a strategic asset. Companies that embed ethics into AI architecture gain stakeholder loyalty and reduce reputational risk.

Microsoft has implemented a Responsible AI Standard encompassing fairness, reliability, privacy, security, inclusiveness, transparency, and accountability. This framework guides the ethical development and deployment of AI technologies.

5. Data as Strategic Asset

AI is only as good as the data that feeds it. Yet many businesses overlook data governance.

Siemens found that companies using its Senseye Predictive Maintenance reduced maintenance costs by 40%, increased maintenance staff productivity by 55%, and decreased machine downtime by 50%.

6. Innovation Ecosystem

No organisation can innovate in isolation. Partnerships, experimentation, and ecosystem engagement are critical.

Visa invested $12 billion over five years to enhance its cyber, fraud, and risk tools. In 2024 alone, its initiatives disrupted over $350 million in attempted fraud, including taking down 12,000 fraudulent merchant sites linked to scams.

7. Value Over Vanity

Avoid the trap of showcasing AI projects for headlines. Focus on business outcomes.

GE Aerospace partnered with airlines to implement AI-powered digital twins, enabling predictive maintenance that reduced downtime and maintenance costs, enhancing overall efficiency.

8. Agile Governance

Innovation must be guided—not stifled—by governance.

ING Bank adopted an agile transformation, reorganizing 3,500 staff members into self-managed squads. This approach improved time to market, boosted employee engagement, and increased productivity.

9. Democratise AI Understanding

AI literacy should not be limited to engineers. Every function should understand its potential and limitations.

Amazon trains its employees, regardless of role, in AI basics through internal academies. This widens adoption and sparks innovation from unexpected places.

10. Long-Term Vision, Iterative Execution

Transformation is a marathon with sprint cycles. Big ideas need small wins.

Rolls-Royce started its AI journey with narrow pilots in engine analytics. Only after proof of value did it scale across supply chains and customer service. The guiding principle: start small, learn fast, and scale smart.

The age of AI is not just about new capabilities – it is about new disciplines. And it is not just about what you deploy, but how you align it to purpose, people, and performance.

Avoid the tragedy of transformation theatre. Lead with clarity. Execute with discipline.

At H. Pierson, we help organisations close the gap between strategic ambition and tangible execution. We turn your vision into clear, measurable actions with accountability and follow-through at every level.

In the end, it is not the technology that transforms your business; it is what you do with it.

So, what will your legacy of transformation be? Another shiny dashboard or a sustained shift in how value is created?

Many strategies fail — not because they are flawed, but because they are not executed.

Across boardrooms and leadership teams, there is often a disconnect between strategic intent and operational delivery. The leadership retreats are energising, the goals are clear, but three months in, reality sets in: misaligned teams, missed timelines, and no structured way to track what is working and what is not.

This execution gap is not just a technical issue. It is an existential one.

In an environment of rapid change, shrinking margins, and rising stakeholder expectations, the ability to translate strategy into coordinated, real-time action has become a critical differentiator.

Bridging the Gap with Digitisation

Traditional strategy execution methods — PowerPoint plans, static spreadsheets, and quarterly reviews — are not designed for today’s speed of business. They create delays in decision-making, obscure accountability, and mask performance bottlenecks until it is too late.

Digitisation offers a better way.

By digitising strategy execution, organisations move from static oversight to dynamic control. Real-time dashboards, automated performance tracking, and integrated reporting enable leadership to monitor the status of every strategic initiative at a glance. These tools make invisible gaps visible — early and objectively.

Case in Point: Maersk

Global shipping giant Maersk provides a notable example. In response to the complexity of its transformation agenda, the company deployed a digital strategy execution platform to track hundreds of initiatives across its supply chain, finance, and operations teams.

This digitised approach enabled:

Centralised monitoring of strategic KPIs in real time

Cross-functional accountability across departments

Faster issue escalation and course correction

As reported in their 2022 Annual Transformation Review, this led to a 13 percent improvement in on-time project delivery across business units – a material gain in a time-sensitive, asset-intensive industry.

Maersk’s experience illustrates a key truth: the ability to see execution clearly — and respond quickly — is now a core leadership capability.

Aligning Actions with Strategy

One of the reasons executions fail is that employees cannot see how their work fits into the bigger picture. The strategy may discuss innovation, market expansion, or cost optimization, but without a visible linkage to individual or departmental actions, these goals remain abstract.

Digitisation solves this. By cascading goals across business units and linking them to individual responsibilities, organisations build alignment and ownership.

A 2023 McKinsey study found that companies that align individual goals with enterprise strategy experience 30 to 50 percent higher initiative success rates. Moreover, teams that can visualise their impact are more engaged, agile, and collaborative.

This shift from disconnected workstreams to integrated execution is not just about productivity. It is about creating momentum.

From Reports to Rhythms

Traditional strategy execution often relies on retrospective reporting — what happened in the past month, quarter, or year. But in a fast-moving world, this is too late.

Digitised execution tools change the cadence of leadership. They provide early warnings, spotlight execution risks, and enable proactive interventions. Rather than reacting to missed targets, executives can guide performance in real time.

However, tools alone are not enough. Success requires a shift in behaviour: a new rhythm of weekly action reviews, cross-functional stand-ups, and leadership check-ins that embed execution into the daily heartbeat of the business.

At H. Pierson, we support this through our strategy execution partnership platform, which not only visualises performance but instills the governance and habits that sustain momentum.

Final Thought

Strategic clarity is not enough. Without execution discipline, ambition remains theoretical.

In a world where performance gaps widen quickly, digitising execution is not just a tool — it is a mindset shift. A shift from abstract strategy to active leadership. From lagging reviews to real-time insight. From big plans to bold delivery.

Strategy should not be a quarterly ritual. It should be a daily habit.
The future belongs to organisations that can execute with discipline, speed, and visibility.

If your strategy is worth designing, it is worth executing with discipline.
Now is the time to ask: Do we truly know how well we are executing — or are we relying on hope and hindsight?

If your team is ready to explore what that could look like, we are here to support that conversation.

H. Pierson Business Advisory

For many years, being a Local Government Chairman meant managing administration — signing approvals, responding to requests, and overseeing routine matters. But times have changed.

With greater autonomy now comes greater responsibility — not just to act, but to deliver. And in this new era, the biggest shift is not in structure. It’s in how leaders lead.

Autonomy doesn’t just transfer control from federal to local levels. It transfers accountability. Citizens now look to you, and not Abuja for results. That spotlight brings a new challenge: are your leadership systems ready?

The Real Shift: From Oversight to Leadership

In councils across Nigeria, Chairmen are learning that authority is no longer enough. Teams are bigger. Budgets are larger. Expectations are rising. Yet many councils still operate with outdated leadership models — where control is centralised, and decision-making slows down when the Chairman is unavailable.

The real challenge now is not only what you decide, but how you lead others to act.

This was the focus of Rwanda’s Imihigo system, where mayors sign annual performance contracts with measurable goals, reviewed publicly. Beyond the contracts, the real breakthrough came when district leaders were trained to set direction, track execution, and hold their own teams accountable. Leadership became a process — not a personality.

Similarly, in the Philippines, the Local Government Academy has been used to develop mayors and municipal leaders through structured coaching, peer learning, and leadership diagnostics. Over time, councils that invested in leadership saw better service delivery and improved citizen engagement.

These cases show that in a decentralised system, it’s not policies alone that drive progress it is leadership capacity.

What Holds Leadership Back in Many Councils

In our work across Nigeria, we’ve seen four challenges that weaken public sector leadership at the local level:

Reactive, Not Intentional Leadership
Many councils respond to issues as they arise but don’t set a clear performance rhythm that drives focus week by week.

Leadership Gaps Below the Chairman
When Heads of Department aren’t equipped to lead independently, all decisions funnel upwards, slowing action and breeding frustration.

Lack of Team Alignment
Councils often operate in silos. Directors pursue different agendas, and performance reviews rarely happen. Without shared goals, delivery is inconsistent.

Weak Accountability Culture
Because feedback and follow-up are informal or absent, underperformance is tolerated and the system slowly accepts delay as normal.

How We Help Build Leadership That Delivers

At H. Pierson, we help Chairmen and their executive teams strengthen leadership from the inside out, using systems, routines, and coaching that embed performance into daily operations.

Here’s how:

Leadership Development & Coaching

We work with Chairmen and top officials to clarify leadership styles, improve decision-making, and develop successors who can lead without waiting for directives.

Culture Transformation

We help councils move from compliance-based environments to performance-driven ones where people take ownership and execution is expected, not requested.

Performance Management Design

We support councils to introduce structured systems: scorecards, check-ins, and measurable reviews. These create follow-through, even when priorities shift.

Leadership Is the Culture You Create

Chairman, the people you lead take cues from how you lead. If meetings lack clarity, they do the same with their teams. If accountability is optional, it becomes the norm. Leadership is not just your personal example — it is the environment you tolerate or change.

The question isn’t whether you’re in charge. It’s whether your team knows how to perform without your daily push.

Final Thought

Autonomy gives you the platform. But leadership gives you the results. And the councils that will stand out in this new era are not the ones with the biggest budgets, they arethe ones with the strongest leadership systems.

Chairman, now is the time to build the kind of leadership that outlasts your tenure and transforms how your council performs.

Let’s build leadership that works not just for now, but for what’s next.

Across Nigeria, the pressure on local governments to improve service delivery is growing. But when conversations turn to digital transformation, many councils assume it means expensive software, complex platforms, and years of IT procurement. That perception has slowed progress.

In reality, true digital change at the local level does not begin with buying technology. It begins with using what already exists.

Digital transformation for local governments is not about equipment. It is about mindset. And it does not require a big leap. It begins with a small shift: from paperwork to visibility, from delay to data, from disconnected teams to informed leadership.

From Paper to Progress: Why It Matters

For decades, councils have relied on manual processes. Attendance sheets written in longhand. Memos carried from one office to another. Projects tracked in individual notebooks. These methods often delay decisions, bury information, and hide problems until they become urgent.

The alternative is not a million-naira ICT platform. It is practical, incremental steps. The goal is not perfection, but progress.

One example comes from Uganda, where the Local Government Management and Information System (LGMIS) began as a low-cost solution to digitise planning and budgeting at the district level. It used simple forms, spreadsheets, and basic email reporting. Within a year, delays in budget reporting dropped significantly, and local officials were able to monitor expenditure in real time. The success came not from tools, but from structure.

In the Philippines, small councils called barangays use Google Forms and SMS to submit monthly reports. The national government supports this model by keeping the technology simple and the training practical. Councils that were previously invisible in performance discussions became visible — and accountable.

These are not wealthy systems. They are thoughtful systems.

What Digital Looks Like for a Council That Is Just Starting

Here are examples of what a digitally enabled council can start doing right now, using tools already in their environment:

WhatsApp for Departmental Reporting
Create closed groups where each department head shares short weekly updates with photos and summaries. This builds a shared view of progress and encourages internal accountability.

Excel for Project Tracking
Maintain a shared spreadsheet listing projects, timelines, budgets, and current status. Updating this weekly gives Chairmen and Secretaries a real-time understanding of where attention is needed.

SMS for Community Updates
Send short messages to ward leaders or community groups. For example: “New health centre opens Monday in Ward 3” or “Drainage repairs begin on Market Road this week.” When people are informed, they are more engaged.

None of this requires external funding or heavy ICT infrastructure. It requires leadership to decide that visibility, speed, and consistency matter.

Digital Is Not a Department. It Is a Leadership Discipline

Many councils have ICT departments, but these are often limited to repairing printers or managing emails. That is useful, but it is not transformation.

Digital transformation begins when leadership asks three simple questions:

How do we reduce delays in getting updates?

How do we track what is working and what is not?

How do we communicate quickly with citizens?

The answers often lie in tools your teams already know how to use. The real challenge is making these tools part of the way the council works — every week, every month.

How H. Pierson Supports the Shift

At H. Pierson, our Digital Skills School is built for exactly this context. We support local governments to start small, move smart, and build lasting habits.

We help councils with:

Digital Process Mapping
We sit with your teams to understand paper-based workflows and show how they can be converted into basic digital steps using available tools.

Performance Dashboards
We help your teams track project status, staff performance, IGR progress, or citizen feedback. The goal is not data for its own sake. It is data that can drive follow-up and results.

Digital Execution Clinics
We train teams to use WhatsApp, Excel, and other advanced tools as frameworks for delivery, not just communication.

We build systems around the tools you already have.

Final Thought

Chairman, going digital does not mean going big. It means going visible.

The most effective councils in the coming years will not be the ones with the most expensive platforms. They will be the ones where leaders can open a file, send an update, or track a project without waiting for someone else to do it for them.

Transformation begins with clarity. Clarity begins with structure. Structure begins with simple digital habits.

Start small. Start smart. Start now.

Across Nigeria, local governments are being asked to do more — with more control over their budgets, programmes, and direction. Autonomy is no longer theoretical. It’s real. But with it comes a question that many Chairmen are quietly asking:

Do our people have the skills to deliver on our plans?

All over the country, strategies are being written and launched. Yet communities see limited change. The truth is, progress doesn’t depend on documents — it depends on the people who carry them out. And that’s where many councils are struggling.

The Missing Link Is Capacity

What we see again and again — is that the problem isn’t ambition. It’s ability. Execution requires more than good intentions. It requires practical, everyday skills: planning work, managing teams, tracking results, and adjusting as needed.

This is not just a Nigerian reality.

In Ghana, the government launched the District Performance Assessment Tool (DPAT) a performance-linked grant system for district assemblies. Early on, results were mixed. But when the Ministry of Local Government and its partners introduced structured training programmes on budgeting, procurement, and M&E for district officials, performance improved. More districts met their targets and qualified for additional funding.

In Bangladesh, under the Local Governance Support Project, Union Parishads (local councils) were given modest discretionary funds but also trained in participatory planning, financial reporting, and service delivery monitoring. The result? A measurable increase in citizen satisfaction and project completion rates across dozens of rural communities.

In both cases, what changed performance wasn’t just money or mandates. It was skills.

Where the Gaps Show Up

In our work across Nigeria, we’ve observed three consistent skill gaps in local government:

Limited Planning and Execution Ability
Officials often struggle to break plans into tasks, assign roles, and monitor follow-through. Projects drift because no one owns the process.

Weak Data and Tracking Skills
Many councils do not track results consistently. Even where data is collected, it’s rarely analysed or used to guide decisions.

Poor Communication and Collaboration
Silos, poor reporting, and unclear team roles slow things down. Many officers haven’t been trained in the basic soft skills required to work across departments.

How We Support Councils to Build Capability

At H. Pierson, our Learning Schools are built around the real challenges that Nigerian LGAs face. We help councils build skill, not just awareness with practical, hands-on programmes that reflect their level of maturity.

Strategy Execution School

Focused on converting goals into action: planning timelines, assigning tasks, and tracking delivery.

Leadership & Governance School

Equips Chairmen and department heads with tools for aligning teams, reviewing progress, and setting a culture of performance.

Digital Skills School (Tailored for Low-Tech LGAs)

We train officers to use basic digital tools like Excel, WhatsApp, Google Forms, for data capture, reporting, and internal communication. Nothing complex. Just useful. We can also deliver more advanced knowledge depending on the needs of the Local Government Staff.

Soft Skills School (Designed for Practical Application)

We build interpersonal skills like team communication, conflict resolution, accountability, and clear reporting , all essential for daily delivery.

We combine these with action learning and post-training support helping teams apply their new skills on real assignments and measure results over time.

Why This Matters Now

Autonomy only works when backed by capability. If your team doesn’t know how to execute, autonomy won’t lead to impact, only more frustration. But when people are trained and supported, the results speak for themselves: faster projects, better reporting, fewer excuses.

Final Thought

Chairman, your leadership sets the tone but it’s your team that drives the results. When they grow in capability, the council grows in credibility.

And that’s the shift we need: not more plans, but more people who know how to carry them out confidently, competently, and consistently.

Dear Chairman,

For the first time in decades, Local Government Chairmen across Nigeria are not merely implementers, they are now primary architects of grassroots development.

The recent shift toward autonomy marks a turning point. Yet autonomy, by itself, does not guarantee impact. It merely removes the excuses. What separates councils that deliver from those that don’t will come down to one thing: strategic governance.

Why Capability Now Matters More Than Cash

Without the right strategy, autonomy risks becoming a decentralisation of failure. Many councils, now in charge of their budgets and priorities, will discover that resources without direction can quickly become waste.

Local Government strategy must begin with four critical, questions:

1. Where must we be by 2029 to stay relevant? (Vision)

2. Why do we exist beyond elections? (Mission)

3. What matters most to our people? (Values)

4. What few high-impact actions will get us there? (Strategic Choices)

At H. Pierson, we distil this into a practical approach that moves your team from mission to measurable execution. It aligns leadership, departments, simplifies decision-making, and ensures that every initiative serves a clear outcome.

Global Lessons: What Strategic Local Government Looks Like

Kenya – Makueni’s Health Transformation Through Devolution

Following the 2010 Constitution, counties in Kenya gained more fiscal control. Makueni County stood out by creating Makueni Care, a low-cost health scheme funded jointly by citizens and the county government. It now serves over 200,000 people. The secret? A clear local mission, community buy-in, and discipline in focusing on one flagship outcome.

Malaysia – Local Governance Driven by Results

In Malaysia, local councils implemented Performance-Based Budgeting (PBB), linking every allocation to pre-agreed service delivery metrics, from waste collection frequency to market licensing efficiency. Regular performance reports are published, and underperforming departments are openly reviewed. The result is a culture where autonomy is tied to accountability, not just authority.

Both examples show that autonomy without performance management is hollow. What made these councils succeed was their ability to focus, prioritise, and deliver visibly.

What Nigerian LGAs Must Now Prioritise

As your 2025 budget cycle begins, here are three principles that can reposition your council:

1. Concentrate 70% of your spend on two flagship priorities, for example, local job creation and health service delivery. Resist the pressure to do everything.

2. Institute a Local Performance Dashboard, tracking monthly data on IGR, project status, and citizen satisfaction. It must be simple enough to share via WhatsApp.

3. Introduce Performance Contracts for department heads — reviewed in quarterly public forums. Let your leadership team sign what they intend to deliver.

These actions are not bureaucratic formalities — they create structure, build momentum, and anchor your legacy.

How We Partner

At H. Pierson, we have supported public sector strategy across Nigeria and Africa for 35 years. Our work with Governments focuses not only on writing documents, but on building decision-making muscle that lasts.

We offer:

· Strategy Development Retreats to co-design your council’s mission, priorities, and delivery model

· Quarterly Strategy Clinics to monitor execution and address bottlenecks in real time

· Digital M&E Tools (optional) to track performance and communicate progress with citizens

But more than tools, we bring the mindset needed to govern with clarity, courage, and consequence.

Final Thought

Autonomy is not a finish line — it is a starting block. And at this moment in Nigeria’s history, the best local governments will not be the richest but the most strategic.

You now hold the pen. What story will your council write?

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