THE CASE FOR BCM - Its relevance to the Nigerian Business

THE CASE FOR BCM - Its relevance to the Nigerian Business

For Nigeria, the relevance of BCM should increasingly become an issue of concern for proactive, forward thinking and strategic organisations. Many Nigerian organizations ignore business continuity management or are ignorant of the need for this initiative for a number of reasons considering that, Nigeria as a whole is not prone to natural disasters such as earth quakes, tsunami and hurricane, forgetting that crisis or disruption is not limited to natural disasters. It is important to note that business disruption are not limited to natural disasters, but its causes are multifaceted including human generated interruptions. The British standard (BS25999) identifies a range of internal and external risks that could negatively impact on the operations of organizations; including fire   outbreak, system failure, power outages, flooding, industrial action and strikes, succession failures, communication failure and any other events.

For instance the flood experienced in Nigeria over the past three (3) years is an indication that time and season are changing, the unimaginable is becoming imaginable, and the unanticipated is becoming reality. However, Nigeria in recent past has not witnessed such a degree of rain storm. Reports had it that most offices became inaccessible especially in Lagos, properties were destroyed, lives were lost and business activities became paralysed. In 2010, the flooding displaced more than two million people and inn 2011 over 102 people were believed to have died from the flood.  In 2012, NEMA figures show that 7,705,000 people were affected by the flood between July 1 and October 31 2012 with death figures of 398 people. In Kogi sate for example, the most recent flood disaster rendered more than 600,000 people homeless. Property worth more than 2billion naira was lost and business and commercial activities were paralysed especially those involved in fishing and rice farming. The education sector was equally affected as some primary schools were shut down due to the sinking of school infrastructures and facilities.

This event will have a life time impact on business and families affected. Most importantly, businesses locate on the island close to the sea metropolis should begin to strategically think of the worst case scenario as experienced in Japan drawing inference on the fact that the Japan earthquake erupted from the sea.

Again, the trend and frequency of bombings in Nigeria in recent times should be a wake up call for Nigerian organisations. Yes some businesses might say they are not affected by the bombings as they are not located in the northern region. This is very short sighted because no one knows when Lagos or their region will be the next city of attack. It is therefore necessary to take a proactive approach to planning and preparing. Between October 2010 and March, 2013, Nigeria had witnessed over twenty different bomb attacks and explosions by terrorist in different locations with notable attacks on the United Nations office, police headquarters, Kaduna attacks as well as the Christmas day bombings in Abuja. For example the bomb attacks in the northern region of Nigeria will have a life time impact on business, lives and families affected. Also communication network Giant, (MTN) was equally affected, its network mast were been bombed which significantly interrupted its service delivery as it became a crisis they had to deal with. Not only were they losing customers to competitors, they incur substantial losses, reputation and brand damage. These losses were as a result of the absence of business continuity strategy. However, if business continuity management strategies were in place, this would have reduced the impact of such event.  Not only has Nigeria recorded loss of lives and property as a result of these events, but these events have strategic implications for businesses and the nation as a whole. From the international community, Nigeria is gradually becoming a terrorist environment and this has a direct implication for foreign investments.

Furthermore, the recent Dana crash as well as its emergency response clearly shows the absence of BCM in the aviation industry and lack of coordination amongst emergency agencies in Nigeria. This should indeed be a wake up call for the air force being a major stakeholder in the aviation industry and the Nation as a whole. The crash and its responses thereto send a negative signal to the public and to the international community on the effectiveness and preparedness of the air force, emergency agencies and the aviation industry at large.  This then becomes imperative for the Nation to embrace Business continuity management, plan for different kind of disaster with a view accord importance to continuity planning in the budgets.

The wide-spread of eminent incidents, frequent bombings and terrorist attacks as well as the recent flooding in Nigeria have served to heighten the priority for embracing BCM initiatives, underlining the substantial risk of major operational disruptions to business and operations. The impacts of these crisis events should provide some impedance for a more recognition and acceptance of BCM initiative as a strategic function both in the public and private sector.