Why do Nigerian organisations overlook crisis planning?

No organisation prays to go through a crisis neither is it possible to predict the form a crisis will take. However, it is highly advisable for organisations to have crisis management plans developed for various likely incidents rather than waiting for the crisis to occur before thinking about how to handle the incident.

A typical crisis management plan highlights the person(s) that performs specific role in a certain crisis situation, a prepared sample press release, emergency contacts information, building plans, etc. Having a crisis management plan prepared will help handle the crisis better  'if/when' it happens and help minimise the effect. Most organisations especially in Nigeria disregard the need to have a contingency plan for reasons best known to such organisations.

I once partnered with a Nigerian University for a project and in the process discovered this institution had no form of crisis plan; not even plans as small as a campus map or building plan. After the shocking realisation, I did research and found that it isn't only the University that is guilty of overlooking the need for a crisis management plan. In fact, 90% of organisations in Nigeria do not have a crisis communication plan.

The reason for this could be the organisations feeling they can fall back on their insurance to cover damages if anything occurs. The unfortunate thing here is, among other valuable assets of an organisation are her reputation, her ethics, her perceived conduct and ambience and if these are destroyed, no insurance can resuscitate them.

In this era where information and communication technology tools have been of immense benefits to organisations, these tools can also lead to the death of organisations as things can get ugly at the instance of a poorly managed crisis.

The chances of survival for every organisation are to a great extent improved if there are contingency plans in place, if responsibilities are assigned and if everyone acquaints themselves with what is expected of them.

I will advise PR managers in every organisation to begin drafting  crisis communication plans in order to avoid the disaster that comes with being unprepared. That a crisis has occurred is enough disaster, to then again be clueless and unprepared to handle such crisis will be very unprofessional and a self-inflicted challenge.