- By Oluwademilade Adeyemo
- …Global evidence indicates that embedding business analysts in governance reduces costs and enhances efficiency. Nigeria should follow suit.
Nigeria’s development conversation is often dominated by one question: Money, how much funding do we need? How much can we borrow? Yet money alone does not guarantee efficiency or progress. Too often, policies stall, budgets bloat, and citizens see little change. What Nigeria consistently lacks is not ambition but structured delivery.
This is where business analysts (BAs) come in. A BA is a professional who links policy to execution. They map processes, identify inefficiencies, and translate policy/vision into practical requirements. The absence of this role explains why so many projects fail between announcement and implementation.
Countries that prioritised delivery over rhetoric have reaped the rewards. In the United Kingdom, the Government Digital Service embedded analysts and delivery specialists across ministries. The result: common services like tax filing and licence renewal went online, with projected annual savings exceeding £1.7 billion. In Estonia, analytical discipline transformed governance. Citizens can now register businesses or file taxes in minutes, and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) studies rank its e-government among the most efficient globally. Singapore’s GovTech demonstrates the same principle: analysts and delivery experts convert broad policy into seamless citizen services.
Nigeria does not need to reinvent the wheel. It must recognise that policy without analysis breeds duplication and waste. Ministries urgently need embedded BAs who can clarify requirements, eliminate overlaps, and enforce measurable outcomes. A small pilot team of 15 to 20 business analysts deployed into key ministries for six to twelve months would be a low-cost, high-impact start.
Imagine Nigeria’s tax administration redesigned to reduce bottlenecks, boost compliance, and increase revenue or health services measured not just by spending but by cost-to-serve and patient outcomes. These are practical steps already proven elsewhere.
Digital transformation is not an IT problem; it is a governance problem. Technology is a tool that should be deployed to ensure effective governance. Success comes from disciplined delivery, and that requires professionals who bridge ambition with execution. Nigeria has the talent. What is missing is the recognition that business analysts are essential and indispensable to reform.
About the Author:
Oluwademilade Adeyemo, a Business Analyst now working with Sodexo in the UK. He has delivered major digital transformation projects with multi-million-pound savings and process optimisation. Demi argues that Nigeria must build structured delivery capacity if reforms are to succeed.