Defence
AS the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON) prepares to mark its 50th anniversary next year, its Director-General, Mrs Cecilia Gayya, has emphasised the need for capacity building to enhance productivity.
Gayya spoke. in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Badagry, Lagos State.
NAN reports that the organisation, which began operations in 1973, will hit the 50-year mark in 2023.
Gayya advised chief executive officers of organisations not to relegate training of their personnel, “even in the face of economic challenges”.
She said that capacity building was critical to keep workers in tune with modern trends and enhance ttheir elevance.
The director-general said that untrained staff would not be able to give their best and could be left behind in the fast-changing world.
She said that ASCON had continued to find ways to drive home the need for regular training and retraining of workers, given its importance.
“The thinking is that we need to hold a kind of national conference and have a theme on capacity building in Abuja.
“The board of ASCON has approved in principle that we work toward that so we can invite both our clients and other prospective clients to discuss the importance of capacity building and what ASCON has to offer,’’ she said.
Gayya said that the advent of the internet had also created a window for self-development which should be encouraged where there are funding challenges.
She said that apart from the training of staff, ASCON had also continued to assist some state governments, agencies and private institutions in their employment processes.
“We do executive searches for government and government institutions,’’ she said, listing Delta, Edo and Adamawa states, as well as NIMASA, NPA, and NDDC among those that had used its services in that regard.
Gayya said that neutrality and objectivity, among others, were selling points of the college that made such organisations engage it to execute such crucial exercises.
She acknowledged the challenge posed by “portfolio consultants” who offer training services to organisations, but pointed out that ASCON remained the prime management development institution and had continued to live up to expectations.
She said that ASCON would never reduce standards as some small portfolio consultants do.
Gayya urged Chief Executive Officers of organisations not to use training just as an opportunity to put money in the pockets of staff.
“The goal should be to build their capacity. Building capacity is a key tool to delivering quality service,” she noted.
She regretted that there were instances where some organisations sent personnel on training courses with consultants just for welfare purposes and not to build their capacity.
“If you come to ASCON, you cannot get a certificate, unless you attain 75 per cent attendance.
“Even the chief executives that have come here, if they don’t meet it, we don’t give you a certificate.
“But the small portfolio consultants may not think of that; you can have a three-day training and the person comes on the last day and gets a certificate,’’ she said.
Gayya said that there was always a difference in officers’ capacity before and after coming to ASCON.
“The Head of Service is conducting training programmes for ministries in the public service institute and they requested ASCON to send facilitators to undertake facilitation.
“I got a report yesterday that ASCON facilitators were rated among the highest, of all the people that facilitated in the programme.
“Two weeks ago, we were at a graduation ceremony of the first leadership course undertaken by the office of the Head of Service.
“One of the things the Head of Service did at the passing out ceremony was to appreciate the role that ASCON had played and that she was very happy that she would have world-class trainers in the system,’’ Gayya said.
The ASCON boss said that virtually all the management staff of the Federal Road Safety Corps had come to ASCON for training and they uused hat as a basis for promotion.
According to her, they come for nine months, “not just one or two weeks”.
She said that many other organisations, which the college served, had continued to come back for more training.
The director-general explained that the continued use of a facility was an indication that it was offering quality service as no one would continue to use a product that was not ssatisfactory (NAN)
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Tags: ASCON Cecilia Gayya NDDC NIMASA NPA
