Unease grips Staff College as FG creates training institute

By Ruona Agbroko
July 18, 2009 03:26PMT

The fate of the 37-year-old pioneer civil service training institute in Nigeria, the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON), Badagry, Lagos [pictured], is now uncertain following the recent establishment of another institute to handle the same job, in Abuja.
The Public Service Institute of Nigeria, pearheaded and constructed during the tenure of the last Head of Service, Ama Pepple, opened for operation last month.
On Thursday, February 12, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Yayale Ahmed, commissioned the Public Service Institute of Nigeria in Abuja on behalf of the Nigerian President, Umaru Musa Yar'Adua. He said the institute would "serve as a veritable resource centre to fill the critical gaps that other institutions have individually and collectively left unplugged."
Ms. Pepple, according to a source, also told the management of ASCON publicly that "Administrative Staff College of Nigeria has to struggle to survive, because I have a new baby," referring to the Public Service Institute.
Little wonder that staff of the centre have accused the Federal Government of planning to phase out the institution by less than transparent means.
A senior official of the institution, who spoke under conditions of anonymity because he was not authorised to do so, said the government appeared unmoved by whatever achievements the institution may have had on the nation's growth.
"What I foresee is a situation where [the] Administrative Staff College of Nigeria will be made irrelevant," he said. "A similar institution called the Public Service Institute has already been built, at the cost of billions of Naira. Though the Public Service Institute has skeletal staff and even no web site, our staff has undergone progressive reduction. From about 1,500, we are now just 350."
Duplication of function
The expansive grounds of the institute on the outskirts of Lagos is increasingly wearing forlorn looks. Though the institute's infrastructure compares favourably with the best higher institutions in the country, these are already showing signs of wear. It is evident that not much effort is going into maintaining the huge layout at the college.
The official said funding is to blame for this.
"[The] Administrative Staff College of Nigeria is not okay," he said. "There is a lack of funds. Can you believe that [the] Administrative Staff College of Nigeria's budget was pegged down to ₦40 million from an estimate of ₦400 million needed to develop the place? So while the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria is being underfunded, the Federal Government is heavily funding the Public Service Institute."
The new institute is not yet ready to take on the role it was built for. The Chief Press Secretary to the Head of Service, Tony Okwudiafor, told NEXT that both the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria and the Public Service Institute cater for all categories of civil servants, irrespective of the grade level.
He added that since most courses have not been introduced at the Public Service Institute, such people will be required to go to the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria in Lagos for the training.
He said the Public Service Institute would be equipped to world class institute standard, so that it will cater for both private and public students from all parts of the world.
Government's intention in creating the Public Service Institute, Mr. Okwudiafor said, is to discourage people from going abroad for training except it is extremely necessary.

Luring patrons
So why not improve the facility at the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria to achieve this? Mr. Okwudiafor said both the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria and Public Service Institute are going to serve the same purpose of training. The only difference, he said, "is that the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria is already on ground while the Public Service Institute is yet to fully take off and so, if one is sent on a training for courses that are not found at the Public Service Institute, such people go to the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria since all courses are there."
At the launch of the new institute, Ms. Pepple invited Heads of Service from the 36 states of the federation to a two-week workshop. The first week was spent at the Public Service Institute in Abuja, while the other week was spent abroad.
The Administrative Staff College of Nigeria staff said this is like a back-handed attempt to lure the heads of service to patronise the Public Service Institute. "The Head of Service is the chief training officer in the state, responsible for all civil servants," he said. "If a governor needs to train one person, he must go through the Head of Service. So the idea of the workshop was to tell them ‘this is where you should train all your people.' The only way to attract them was to sponsor them for one week abroad. At whose expense?"
Good enough for Ethiopia
Over the past eight years, the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria has provided technical assistance in capacity development to the civil service in Ethiopia and other African countries. Yet, even the Governors' Forum would rather take its members to Harvard than patronise the college. Perhaps it has to do with the mediocre performance of the Nigerian civil service, whose members are trained at the college.
The executive of the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria disagrees. "You can't blame [the] Administrative Staff College of Nigeria, or the civil servants either, when the governors and leadership of the country are not interested in training," he said. "When they need to cut the budget, the first thing they do is cut training. There are civil servants who have worked for 30 years with no training, because their parastatals, agencies and ministries do not want to spend money on sending them to the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria. It is the right of every civil servant to be trained, but corruption will not let it be."
The staff of the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria however said the college's greatest challenge today is "liberalisation of the training enterprise."
"Government uses private consultants, pays them heavily and then goes back to share the money with these consultants," he said. "Even the office of the Head of the Civil Service that should be our supervising officer is steeped in this practice. Whether it is the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria or the Public Service Institute, these things will continue. In fact, the recent MoU between some governors and Harvard seeking training abroad is merely their corruption becoming more brazen over time."
Bribing budget officers
The institution's 90-percent-reduced budget of ₦40 million has yet to be released, months after the 2009 budget was approved. NEXT was told of the torture government agencies go through to get their budget released.
"If you don't bribe the House of Reps or Senate (members), your budget will not be approved," the source said. "If it is approved, you cannot get the cash if you don't bribe the budget officers in the Presidency. If you don't retrieve your money on time, it lapses into the next year. There is what we in the civil service refer to as ‘brown envelope.' After budgets are approved, you are given a brown envelope containing a piece of paper on which is written the sum that will be given to your agency. This is usually much lower than what was officially approved. Out of ₦40 million, you can be sure we will spend about ₦5 million bribing budget officers. So we don't plan based on how much was approved. What we ask ourselves these days is ‘what is in your envelope?'"
Effortsto speak with Adewale Peters, the Director-General of the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria, were futile, as officials at the press office of the college told NEXT: "The point is this: In the civil service, you cannot come here and do stories without an approval. We need you to write a letter to the Director-General, stating your request. I hope there is no cost implication; indicate it there that there is no cost implication."
The letter was sent, yet when NEXT returned the following week, on Tuesday July 14, to seek a response, we were told to submit yet another copy, which was done. The interview had not been held as at press time.
As a staff of the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria said, staff members of the college are apprehensive. "Everybody is foreseeing a bleak future," he said. "They say a civil servant is to be seen, not heard. It's in the books. Everyone knows these things are bad, and they should speak up. But who wants to forfeit the little benefits he or she is entitled to after years in Nigeria's civil service?"