Abuja — President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua is scheduled to join 500 local and international experts to seek ways of enshrining a culture of effective project management in Nigeria.

The platform would be the first National Project Management Conference (ProMaCon) scheduled to hold from 8th to 10th September 2009.

Secretary of the Steering Committee, Mr. Taopheek Babayeju said in a statement at the weekend that the conference would attempt to check the retrogressive incidence of wastefulness with regards to infrastructural development in the country.

He confirmed that about 200 delegates from within and outside Nigeria has so far registered to participate in the all important conference, stating that the President has directed the Minister of National Planning, Dr. Shamsuddeen Usman to represent the Presidency.

He said that the major challenge facing project executors in Nigeria had been implementation adding that the prevalence of poor project management skills has been identified as the bane of development.

Conference topics will focus on essential aspects of all frontline sectors of the economy such as oil and gas, communications, finance, national planning, power and construction. The forum will also feature workshops on effective project management, change management and organizational project management.

He said participants are drawn from the public and private sectors, professionals from the academia, construction, oil and gas, finance, adding that project management sectors are expected to deliver papers at the event.