Final Presentations and Farewells

Time really does fly! I think when you're busy and stretched, the brain has less capacity to focus on duration. It has been one month since I landed in Nigeria. I’m currently sitting in my hotel room and reflecting on the past few whirlwind weeks in a mixture of melancholy, happiness and a feeling of content accomplishment.

I’ve learnt so much in the last weeks, it does make me ruminate that I do waste a lot of time back in Sydney and must take steps to rectify my laziness back home. Apologies for the lack of blogging in the past weeks. It has been a frantic tumultuous time – we had deliverables to finish off, presentations to prepare for and lots & lots of farewells to clients and friends.

I’m proud to say Fi and I delivered what we promised in our revised scope of work. We have additionally left the Ministry with medium and long-term roadmaps. There are many challenges the Ministry faces and as we hand over our work, the ball now falls into their court to continue on with our work. The word of the day is Sustainability. I hope the leadership team recognises that continuous process improvement will lead to boosting staff morale and ultimately, prosperity for the State and farmers.

Our final presentation to the Leadership teams and the departments was well received. They expressed gratitude and appreciation for our work ethic and the relationships we had built with staff. They also made many valuable insights and suggestions which we conveyed at the Governor’s presentation to the Executive Council - funds need to be invested in agriculture. (On a slight tangent, an interesting fact: formal meetings all start and end with a prayer. Yes, JC is strong in Cross River State)

On our last day in the office, we had a farewell meeting where both Fiona and I got quite teary. I’m not putting those photos up!! :p There are people in this Ministry that I have incredible admiration and respect for – they are just lovely human beings who stay motivated, focussed and in good spirits despite some of the frustrating ongoing issues. They will be my inspiration when I start self-pitying at work. I feel so honoured to have worked with and for the staff. Words simply cannot express the gratitude I feel.

The Planning, Research & Statistics department presented us with farewell gifts. This was really unnecessary as there is lack of funding in this Ministry and therefore, I would much prefer they spend their money on themselves. I was incredibly touched by this gesture in addition to their kind, thoughtful words. We actually couldn’t properly give our thanks and appreciation in return as we were both a little choked up. We went to say goodbye to Mrs Christiana Ugwu, the Director of PRS, after formalities and all 3 of us got quite teary. I would love nothing more than to come back and work with PRS to achieve some of their objectives and we made that quite clear in our recommendations about signing a commercial contract with IBM.

The final presentation at the Governor’s office took place today (the Executive Council convenes every Wednesday). It was interesting to be involved in local politics. IBM’s message was clear – communication and collaboration – these should be the drivers for the government. Whilst we finished our scoping, deliverables and recommendations today, it is now up to them, the leaders of the State, to start on where we have left off. Fingers crossed.

Tonight, it is time for celebrations after weeks of hard work! There’s nothing like finishing a project to give you a sense of accomplishment. The hotel staff have expressed sadness and we’ve exchanged numbers & emails. Arrggh – I’m going to celebrate tonight and forget that I have to say goodbye to my friends in Calabar very shortly! There will always be a piece of my heart in Calabar.

Tomorrow we fly to Lagos for a press conference at the IBM office on Friday. Lagos sounds hectic!

I've attached some photos below from our farewell with the Ministry below.

And some photos from the media event