Thread by @MoghaluKingsley

#BIGVision #MoghaluSeries
VISION#4: STRATEGY

Between 2009-2014, when I served as Dep Gov for Financial System Stability, @cenbank achieved numerous feats. We stabilized and reformed Nigeria’s banking system after the global financial crisis, brought inflation down to 8%,

strengthened the Bank itself institutionally, and massively reformed the Nigerian payments system with digital/electronic payments and the introduction of the Bank Verification Number (BVN, introduced while I was DepGov (Operations). These achievements were not random/accidental.

They were the outcomes of corporate STRATEGY developed and agreed by its Board of Directors, the Committee of Governors, and the Monetary Policy Committee, all header ultimately by the then Governor, Lamido Sanusi (now Muhammadu Sanusi II, Emir of Kano. It was a collegiate

leadership of senior leaders that we all were, with the Governor as the Head. As a DepGov I was a member of all three leadership bodies, and also a member of the Strategy Committee of the Bord of Directors. We held annual board retreats where we worked out the Bank’s strategy

to govern the financial system, it’s work, and the parts of the economy under its purview. We set goals and and plans to achieve them. I recall our work during perhaps @cenbank’s proudest period as a practical background example of the importance of governing with strategy. We

had a strategy department whose work 24/7 was the development and management of strategy.I stand to be corrected, but I believe we were the only statutory corporation in Nigeria “( @cenbank is not a ministry, department, “agency” or parastatal) with a dedicated strategy function.

We often assume we know what our obstacles to development are - ethnicity, corruption etc. We should get on with “action”. But the truth is that we have not understood our challenges at a level that makes a real difference. Our problems are much deeper. They are foundational.

They can only be addressed by a transformation that begins in the mind, in the way we think. Thinking is more important than we think. We must “think it through”. Because we refuse to do so, Nigeria can’t formulate and implement public policy that change our circumstances.

Enter strategy. The effective formulation and execution of strategy gives life to worldviews and moves nations or companies from A to B. Strategy must be embedded in governance thinking and architecture in Nigeria, focused on effective governance that delivers value to citizens.

As the strategist Max McKeown writes, strategy is about shaping the future. It is about how to create the future of our imagination. That “how” is the difference between dreaming, visioning, and bridging the gap in between. Strategy is a set of integrated actions planned over

time to achieve a desired outcome. It’s a “game-plan” to get from a current state to a desired one, with defined goals and milestones, and resources for achieving those goals. It helps good leaders achieve long-term transformation at national, regional or corporate levels.

*headed