ASCON’s 50 years of Public Administration and Management Training in Nigeria
The Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON) has reached a significant milestone as it celebrates its 50th anniversary.
By Ovie Edomi
Established in 1973, ASCON has grown from its modest beginnings into a premier institution dedicated to enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of public administration in Nigeria and beyond. This golden jubilee is a celebration of longevity and a testament to ASCON’s unwavering commitment to capacity building, innovative training, and impactful research in the public sector.
The history of ASCON started when formal approval was given in principle that an Administrative Staff College be established by the Federal Government in 1969. This decision was the outcome of the training needs survey conducted in the Federal Civil Service by the Institute of Administration, University of Ife at the request of the Federal Government in 1967.
The survey was conducted by the late Professor, C.P. Wolle, B.A., M.A., Ph.D., then a consultant at the Institute. One of the most significant recommendations in the report of the survey presented early in 1968 was that there should be a Staff College responsible for all high-level administrative trainings for the Federal Government. The recommendations further stated that the Institute of Administration at Ile Ife should be designated as the College. At a later meeting held in 1968, the Public Service Commissioners for the Federation and State Governments also urged the establishment of a ‘National Staff College’ but they did not specifically endorse the suggestion that this function be assigned to the Institute.
After studying carefully, the various recommendations in the ‘Wolle Report’ the Federal Government on 30th April, 1969 issued a White Paper in which, among other things, it approved in principle, the establishment of an Administrative Staff College to cater for the development of senior executives of all cadres and went on to state that the College would be independent of the Universities but would co-operate with them in every way possible.
In defining its role, the White Paper indicated that the College should supply the training needs of top executives, not only in government but also in private business and industry. It was also expected to play a definite role in the post-war rehabilitation process, particularly in the fields of national and social integration, Public Administration and Business Management. Senior Executives from the Private Sector were expected to participate equally in the activities of the College which was to serve as a forum for the study, exchange and analysis of ideas and experiences, as well as facilitate a deeper understanding of inter-relationship between public and private sectors of the national economy. After considering the possibility of taking over one of the existing institutions and converting or developing it into a Staff College, the government of the day took the view that the College should start from scratch and have a separate existence of its own.
Following this, a special Committee consisting of Mr. M.A. Tokunboh (the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Establishments) as Chairman, the late Mr. A.A. Atta, then Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance, Mr. A.A. Egbor, then Assistant Director, Federal Ministry of Works, and then Secretary to the Federal Military Government, Mr. A.A. Ayida, then Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Economic Development, was set up. At their first meeting, the committee suggested certain criteria prominent amongst which were, that the College should enjoy an independent status, and have full residential facilities and that the permanent location should be chosen with an eye for easy accessibility for participants from all over Nigeria and easy contacts with prospective speakers and course contributors.
In order to decide what form the College should take, what kind of staff it should have, what should be the range of courses, and what physical and other facilities should be provided, it was decided that a team of three from the Federal Ministry of Establishments should visit Administrative Staff Colleges already existing overseas. The team, which was led by Mr. A.A. Ogundipe, then Director of Administrative Staff College of Nigeria, included Mr. D.R. Omokore and Mrs. C.K. Olawoye, went on a study tour of Administrative Staff Colleges in England, Pakistan, India, East Africa and Ghana, under the sponsorship of the Ford Foundation.
On their return, the team also visited the Institutes of Administration of Ife and Zaria and the Staff Development Centre at Kaduna. The team’s report, submitted in January 1970, not only gave an account of these study tours but made comprehensive recommendations as to how the proposed Administrative Staff College of Nigeria should be developed. The team’s report was considered by the Committee headed by Mr. Tokunboh which also discussed the recommendations with interested parties in the public sector and in private businesses and commerce.
Eventually, the Committee submitted, with its own comments and views, the study tour team’s report to the Federal Government which approved most of the recommendations of the team and the Committee, and decided that the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria be established at Badagry. The government further directed that the Ministry of Establishments should liaise with the Federal Ministry of Justice to draw up a Decree for the Establishment of the College, pending the promulgation of the Decree. The Ministry was empowered to set up a protem Board and a sum of N500,000 was set aside for the ASCON project in the Federal Capital Estimates for 1971/72, while the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing was invited to go ahead with building designs and the choice of a suitable site in Badagry. At the request of the Federal Government, the present site at Topo, Badagry was subsequently acquired by the Lagos State Government which donated the same to the former as part of its contribution to the establishment of the College. Matters proceeded on this basis in 1971 and in April 1972, further discussions culminated in a two-week seminar for a group of very senior civil servants which focused on issues bearing on the nature of ASCON, and recommendations were made for the content, duration and scope of future ASCON Courses.
The inaugural meeting of the protem Governing Board of the College took place in June 1972, under the Chairmanship of the late Alhaji Yusuf Gobir who succeeded Mr. Tokunboh as Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Establishments. This was followed by the promulgation of Decree No. 39 of 1973 (with retrospective effect from 1972) which was a major step in the establishment of the College.
Key persons who were actively involved in the planning and establishment of ASCON, include the late Mr. A.A. Atta, the late Alhaji Yusuf Gobir, Mr. M.A. Tokunboh, Mr. A.A. Ayida and members of the Committee set up to consider the establishment of the College, officials of the Federal Ministry of Establishments who undertook the study tour of Administrative Staff Colleges abroad and the Ford Foundation of America under whose sponsorship the tour was undertaken.
There was also massive co-operation and assistance rendered by the Institutes of Administration of the various Nigerian Universities, and the Principals and Directors of Administrative Staff Colleges abroad which also led to the establishment of the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria.
When the newly-constituted Board of ASCON met for the first time in February 1974, after its establishment in 1973 and subsequently consolidated in 1990 through the ASCON Act. Cap. 6, Vol. 1 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, it took the bold step of approving the proposal that the College should adopt a positive role immediately and should embark upon a programme of seminars and courses as soon as possible that year.
The first ASCON course under this programme took the form of ‘An Appreciation Seminar in Human Resource Management’ which lasted for one week. It was held at the Bagauda Lake Hotel, in Kano State, and was opened by the then Federal Commissioner for Establishments and Service Matters, Major-General Hassan Usman Katsina, psc. This was followed almost immediately by the second seminar, in Lagos; on that occasion, the Federal Commissioner took the chair, and the formal opening was performed by His Excellency, Brigadier Mobolaji Johnson, the (then) Military Governor of Lagos State. Similar seminars were mounted later in the year at Port Harcourt and Enugu; in all, almost 150 senior managers drawn from the private sector, federal and state civil services, public boards and corporations, the Nigeria Police and the Armed Forces, took part in these four seminars.
During the same year, plans were made for the opening series of General Management Courses, mounted in 1975. These were of two sets; a set of courses, intended for the very experienced senior managers already holding a position of real responsibility and the other set, designed for the younger graduate or professional manager, already identified as a potential ‘high-flier’, capable of accelerated advancement and the early assumption of more substantial authority. Three of these four-week courses were mounted in 1975; the experience gained thereby was of real value in planning the 1976 series of General Management Courses.
With the publication of the Report of the Public Service Review Commission, the College took immediate steps to become involved in the public management reform programme initiated by the Report. Taking the view that the least controversial, and most immediately useful, of the three major management techniques recommended by the Commission was ‘Management by Objectives’ (MBO), ASCON announced a programme of one-day Study Conferences on ‘MBO’ for top public officials in the service of the Federal Government and every State Government, to be mounted in each State capital and Lagos. The first series of Conferences took place in March 1975, when the ASCON team of speakers and support staff mounted courses in Kano, Kaduna, Benin, Calabar, Ilorin, Ibadan, and Lagos. For the second series, the Study Conferences were, by popular request, extended to two days each; the College team, again ran courses in July 1975, in Jos, Enugu, Port-Harcourt, Lagos, Maiduguri, and Sokoto.
By the end of 1975, not only had ASCON been “in action” in the Federal Capital and every State Capital, it had designed a more comprehensive programme of General Management Courses for 1976, and made a proposal, which was accepted by the Federal Government, for the carefully-phased relocation to Nigeria of the management courses currently being mounted overseas for the public services, by the University of Pittsburgh and the Royal Institute of Public Administration (RIPA) in London.
The first four “General Management” Courses solely for the public services were arranged in conjunction with Pittsburgh University and RIPA; the first two weeks of each course took place in Nigeria and the participants then proceeded overseas for the remaining ten weeks, in each case. In addition to foreign consultants invited for these Courses, increasing and general use was made of Nigerian contributors enrolled on the ASCON Register of Visiting (Associate) Staff. Support for the public management reform programme was limited by the shortage of directing staff (and by delays in the development of that programme). Nevertheless, a successful one-week Seminar for chief executives from Kano State was mounted in Kano in June, in association with the Centre for Management Development, on the general theme of “Results-Oriented Management”, with special emphasis on the relevance of MBO to the public service, and the new Open-Reporting procedures.
With the experience of three years’ active operation to draw on, the College has developed, for 1977, plans which included extending the Advanced General Management Course from five to six weeks duration (i.e. in two parts of three weeks each), increasing the local content of the Nigerian module of the courses run by ASCON in conjunction with RIPA and the University of Pittsburgh, for officers of the Federal and State Public Services, and developing management exercises, games and case studies of particular relevance to the Nigerian management scene.
First Government Management Training and Development Institution
In his address at the inaugural meeting of the Governing Board of ASCON on the 1st of June 1972, the then Federal Commissioner for Establishment, Vice-Admiral Wey, referred to the College as the first government institution “designed as a training and development forum for the joint benefit of the public and private sectors of our country”. The government expected the institution to produce men who were highly versed in modern management techniques, but in particular, the College was to provide the forum an opportunity for strengthening the bonds of national unity so vital to the existence of the country, and to the well-being of its people. Later in his address, he repeated that the institution was expected to cater for the needs of both the public and the private sectors in the field of management development and training, affording, “the coming together of bureaucrats, the elite and the intelligentsia for the purpose of discussing contemporary ideas on national issues affecting the political, social and economic life of Nigerians and other countries.”
In his response, the then Chairman of the Governing Board, the late Alhaji Yusuf Gobir, Permanent Secretary, of the Federal Ministry of Establishments, referred to the intention of the College “to bring together senior executives of proven ability from the various fields of public and private activity to study the skills and techniques of higher management and leadership”. Like the Commissioner, he emphasized the government’s desire that the “student” body should be drawn from a wide variety of administrative callings, thus enlarging the understanding between the public and private sectors of the economy, “the vastly different situations in which each is placed, and the different responsibilities which each shoulders”. The final objectives of the enterprise he reminded his listeners, lay “not within the context of theory, but in improved practice directed to the fuller service of the public interest.”
With these clear indications of interest and purpose, fortified by that specific declaration of objectives outlined in Decree No. 39 of 1973, the College had, from the start, been aware of its role as an agent of national and social integration and unity, and has been taking particular care, when planning its range of courses, to consider suitability of participants attending its courses, as well as course contents to be contained in each course and has also guided the College in selecting where each course may take place.
In terms of its Decree, the College has to undertake ‘higher’ or ‘senior’ management training; its main courses are therefore to be directed towards the identified requirements of ‘senior’ or ‘higher’ management in Nigeria. In practice, this term has come to mean, not so much of those who are presently in top executive or controlling positions, as those in the penultimate, or near-penultimate positions of authority, but also may refer to Nigerian executives of ‘appropriate levels of seniority’ who would ultimately carry greatly widening responsibility and to attend ‘shorter seminars’ designed to attract ‘top executives and managers’ who could not easily be spared but who, in each epoch of rapid change, may require “frequent re-orientation.”
It is no uncommon occurrence for departing ASCON course participants to express almost as much appreciation of the typical “ASCON” mixture, comprising various occupations and professions, from different sectors of the economy and all parts of the country, military and para-military officers, senior civil servants and senior managers in the private sector, brought together for several weeks, away from normal work and family ties, united in examining problems and proposals from a viewpoint of mutual concern rather than from opposing sides as of the actual course content and contributors.
It is a firm policy of ASCON that whatever single-client courses or special subject seminars may come to be included in the syllabus, the key element must remain the multi-sectoral, multi-disciplinary Advanced Management Courses (for very senior executives, officers and officials) and the similarly-oriented “Seminars” for the top executive of his compeers.
The extent to which the College is achieving these valuable national objectives may be determined from the roll of course participants (ASCONIANS) to date and from the range of ASCON’s activities throughout the Federation.
A Rich History of Leadership
ASCON’s leadership has been a cornerstone of its success, with each Director-General contributing to the institution’s growth and development. The first Director-General, Mr. A. O. Ogundipe (1973-1975), laid the foundation for what would become a beacon of excellence in public sector management. Chief M. Ade Soneye (1978-1984) followed, expanding ASCON’s reach and influence. Dr. M. J. Balogun (1985-1987) and Prof. A. D. Yahaya (1987-1991, 1996-2001 respectively) further enhanced the institution’s reputation, introducing innovative programmes and strengthening its organizational structure. Prof. L. Adele Jinadu (1992-1996) and Dr. O. O. Gbeja (2002-2003) also made significant contributions, each bringing unique perspectives and expertise to the role. Prof. Sheikh A. Abdullahi (2003-2008) and Mr. A. A. Peters (2008-2016) improved upon this legacy, focusing on expanding ASCON’s training and consultancy services. The current Director-General, Mrs. C. U. Gayya, mni, has been in office since 2017, steering ASCON into a new era of excellence and innovation despite the challenges of dwindling government funding as well as facilities that are in various degrees of obsolescence.
The Journey so far
Indeed, key stakeholders say remarkable growth has characterized the Nigerian economy from the local government to the federal government, since the creation of the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria, which is why those who spoke to this Reporter noted that ASCON must be sustained and improved upon. Some of those whom the Reporter spoke with insisted that the 50 years of ASCON’s existence is a remarkable time for introspection to rationalize the establishment of the College and equally look at the milestone achievements. Others believe it was time for soul searching over the institution’s journey so far. Another keen watcher of ASCON’s activities over the years noted that the College has recorded giant strides in management training and shown potential for greater milestone achievements despite challenges facing the College.
Accordingly, he noted that “it has been most uplifting to note the feelings of substantial exhilaration subsumed in public excitement over the wisdom in the establishment of ASCON”. But in the same euphoria, could also be traced cases of cautious optimism among other critical stakeholders desirous to properly situate the core mandates of the institution, even as their evaluations of the gains so far harvested from the creation of the premier administrative college are hurled into the front burners.
Saddled with the onerous task of advancing senior staff training for the acquisition of appropriate skills and competencies in both the public as well as private sectors of the economy to promote sustainable nation-building in a post-civil war environment, people who are thrilled by records of what the College has achieved even under strenuous working environment, hold that there are copious indications that the human capital research centre has acquitted itself commendably to rationalize and justify its establishment. Expectedly, some think that the authorities themselves, meaning, successive governments, have not supported the College enough to enable it to achieve its mandates ultimately. Those who hold this view often cite the bottlenecks associated with accessing the College in Badagry due to the visible neglect of roads and other dwindling infrastructure. They also finger inadequate funding and a dearth of patronage by some State governments. However, a dispassionate examination of the vision and mission statements of the College, along with the tedious conditions the College sometimes had to operate in, when stacked against the crucial strategic roles it has played, would provide a better, unbiased basis for measuring the College’s achievement fifty years after its establishment.
From its vision and mission statements, ASCON was envisioned to be world world-class Management Development Institute, involved with cutting-edge performance, deploying state-of-the-art technology for rapid and sustainable national development. Its mission can be summarized thus: to consistently provide excellent management training, consultancy, research, and allied services for performance improvement in all sectors of the economy. Therefore, it was mandated through the law establishing it, Decree No.39 of 1973, now ASCON Act, Cap 6, Vol. 1, LFN 1990, to among others, (i) provide higher Management training for the development of senior executives for public and private sectors of the Nigerian economy; (ii) provide and arrange for a comparative study and investigation of the principles and techniques of Management and Administration, and for exchange of ideas and experience and for promotion of better understanding between persons connected with Management and Administration arising in different spheres of National life; (iii) award grants, scholarships or travel fellowship to research in public administration and allied subjects; (iv) conduct research into problems of Management and Administration arising in different sphere of National life; (v) establish and maintain a library; (vi) undertake and provide for the publication of journals and research papers and books in furtherance of the aforesaid objectives; (vii)undertake, organize and facilitate study courses, conferences lectures, seminars and the like and to promote the aforesaid objectives. With these mandates, the College is expected to intentionally advance the provision of attractive conditions of service that guarantee career development with the recognition of personnel as the most valuable asset. Retention and maintenance of those professional staff committed to team spirit and entrepreneurship, as well as cultivation of life long relationships between the College and its’ staff and the participants, were all embedded in its stated mission.
Expectedly, ASCON trainings were designed for both very senior public management staff as well as middle cadre staff. Different training sessions were held from one location to another for the convenience of participants at the beginning, while the resource persons moved along to meet them. The College continues in that method of mobility and flexibility to meet the needs of many state governments and other clientele. Interestingly ASCON’s courses are designed according to the training needs of their clientele.
Even when the exigencies of the country’s development made it herculean for senior civil servant trainees to receive the sessions in Badagry, ASCON had to move its human and material resources across the states to meet their obligations at different venues. Hitherto, ASCON has maintained good training relationships with all states of the federation. Every state is represented in rotation on ASCON’s board and this facilitates inclusion of each state’s training needs right from the planning stage each year. Though, with ASCON in full possession of its vast property both in phase one and two at Topo, Badagry, the College still moves from state to state, or, from one venue to another to carry out training for its numerous elite participants.
With a full-fledged campus built on expansive land, ASCON has the requisite facilities ranging from classrooms and lecture theatres to hostel accommodation, libraries and elaborate administrative blocks equipped with enabling ICT facilities.
To complement the facilities on the ground are sports and recreational amenities within the same space. Notwithstanding that most of the sports facilities need renovation, the entire complex makes ASCON a truly world-class training institution.
Generally, ASCON’s training programmes are renowned for their breadth and depth, designed to meet the diverse needs of public service personnel at various levels. These programmes include regular training sessions, seminars, workshops, conferences, and client-driven training programmes. ASCON’s curriculum covers a wide range of subjects such as General Management, Human Resource Management, Strategic Management, Public Administration, Policy Analysis, Economic and Financial Management, and many more.
A significant aspect of ASCON’s training is its ability to adapt to the evolving needs of the public sector. Recent additions to its offerings include the Executive Management Course for Senior Military Officers, Advanced Certificate Course in Management Science for Nurses and Midwives, and specialized Health Management Courses for hospital administrators. These programmes are tailored to equip public servants with the necessary skills and knowledge to address contemporary challenges effectively.
In addition to these groups, ASCON also provides special interventionist training for other junior cadres (GL.03 – 06) on special requests by organizations. This is in recognition of the fact that these junior cadres are also very critical to the attainment of goals and objectives of individual Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) and ultimately of the Public Service.
ASCON has always been responsive to the specific needs of the public sector, introducing new management training programmes for occupational groups based on identified needs and requests from clients. These training programmes are aimed at closing the managerial capacity gaps identified among Public Officers in different occupational groups.
Over the last 50 years, ASCON has kept faith with its mandate to Nigeria. And it strives to do so even with a paucity of funds. Between 1972 and till date, ASCON graduates are close to a million across the federation and beyond the borders of Nigeria. For instance, during the tenure of Ajibade Peters, the immediate past Director General, the College trained over 2,375 civil servants and private sector workers in 2014 alone. Under the Cecilia Umaru Gayya-led administration, the College has been churning out thousands of trained personnel every year for the public and private sectors of the economy. Last December, the Delta state government alone had as many as 190 civil servants preparing to be elevated to the rank of directors, trained by ASCON. The same thing applied to the Kano state government which had as many as 300 of its staff trained by ASCON.
Impactful Research and Consultancy
ASCON’s influence extends beyond training; it is a hub for research and consultancy services that address critical issues in public administration. The institution has conducted numerous studies on topics such as the impact of ASCON’s training programmes, procurement and contract management in the public sector, and resource control in Nigeria. These research efforts not only inform ASCON’s training programmes but also contribute to policy development and implementation in the public sector.
The consultancy services offered by ASCON are instrumental in helping public sector organizations resolve performance problems. These services range from Training Needs Assessments, Job Analysis, and Staff Audits to Strategy Formulation, Organizational Restructuring, and Human Resource Strategy Development. ASCON has successfully completed numerous consultancy assignments for federal and state governments, as well as international organizations such as the World Bank and UNDP.
Collaborations and Partnerships
ASCON’s impact is further amplified through its collaborations with national and international organizations. The institution is an active member of the African Management Development Institutes Network (AMDIN),a continental network of management development institutes that provides a platform for knowledge exchange and collaboration among its members, and the West African Management Development Institutes’ Network (WAMDEVIN), the regional network of management development institutes in West Africa that promotes collaboration and capacity building among its members.
The College has at various times established collaboration with Management Development Institutes (MDIs), Universities and Public Service Management Training Institutes (PSMTIs) both within and outside Nigeria. The overall aim of such collaborations is to provide opportunities for the institutions involved to leverage each other’s resources in the design and delivery of training programmes, the conduct of policy research and the execution of consultancy assignments to enhance the delivery capacity of the Public Service. These institutions include the University of Lagos, the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), the Gambia Management Development Institute, the Centre for Management Development (CMD) and several other prestigious institutions.
The College has also initiated the process of entering into collaboration with some American institutions but for paucity of funds, it would have gone far. The institutions include Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Virginia, Harvard John F. Kennedy School of Government, Cambridge, and Columbia University, New York, all in the USA.
ASCON in Line with The Renewed Hope Agenda of President Tinubu
A close look at the priority areas of the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu shows that education and improved governance for effective service delivery were mentioned. It is in this regard that ASCON, working in tandem with the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation is making its contribution to the actualization of the goals of the Government through training and capacity building. ASCON has trained and built capacities of staff on a tailor-made basis for Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and so on. This is apart from the regular and ad-hoc training held in the College from time to time for several ministries and agencies. Very importantly, the Head of Civil Service of the Federation in concert with the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, in 2021 mandated ASCON to conduct a Mandatory Training Programme for Chief Executive Officers of Federal Agencies and Parastatals. So far, 9 batches of the programme have been conducted during which 135 federal Chief Executives have been trained.
Under the present administration, ASCON has so far successfully trained thousands of public servants at the Federal, State and Local Government levels of the Federation as shown in the table below:
S/N PROGRAMME 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
1. Long Duration
(PGDPA) 14 14 16 22 30 6 60 —–
2. Conferences/
Seminars 266 501 131 20
3. Regular 301 326 319 39 317 268 211 35
4. Ad-Hoc/Workshop 854 2,378 1,932 289 1,545 808 1,056 405
5. Tailor-Made 4,330 3,607 4,157 915 1,689 1,960 1,500 255
6. Consultancies
including Executive
Searches and
Examinations 4,861 8,632 2,527 3,425 208 2,121 2,878
7. Executive
Management
Course (EMC) 11 11 9 11 10
8. Mandatory Training
Programme for
CEOs of Fed. Govt. —– —– —– —– 98 21 16 39
Parastatals and
Agencies
9. Training of Public
Servants from the 8 38 29
Gambia
10. Public Service
Examination (PSE) 1,921 1,228 6,479 2,738 3,458 2,832 2,165 2,139
Sub-Total
(Annual) 12,289 16,223 15,470 7,439 7,620 8,528 8,027 2,893
Grand Total = 78,489
It also trained participants from across West Africa under the Barrack Obama Young African Leadership Initiative (YALI) in partnership with the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA). The table below shows the number of YALI Participants trained in the College:
S/N COUNTRIES COHORTS TOTAL
COHORTS COHORTS COHORTS COHORTS COHORTS
1 2 3 4 5
19TH SEPT. 27TH FEB 25TH SEPT. 25TH FEB 2ND – 22ND
-21ST OCT., – 31ST MARCH, – 27TH OCT., – 18TH MARCH, JULY,
2016 2017 2017 2018 2019
1. NIGERIA 94 50 42 61 44 291
2. GHANA 25 15 22 13 12 87
3. THE GAMBIA 7 3 13 12 5 40
4. LIBERIA 5 6 8 16 16 51
5. COTE 1 3 3 4 7 18
D’IVOIRE
6. SIERRA 2 4 8 7 10 31
LEONE
7. CAMEROON 3 6 12 7 19 47
8. BURKINA FASO – – 5 7 5 17
9. TOGO – 3 2 2 7 14
TOTAL 137 90 115 129 125 596
This was a continuation initiative from the former DG, Mr. A. A. Peters. Consequent to the relationship between ASCON and Management Development Institute, the Gambia, the College trained Public Servants from The Gambia between 2017 and 2023. Some members of the staff of ASCON have also been trained under the arrangement. The Gambians trained are shown in the table below.
S/N PROGRAMME 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Training of Public
Servants from the 8 38 29 NIL NIL 12 15 NIL
Gambia
Total = 102
The College between 2019 and 2020 also trained very senior military Officers of Nigeria on the Executive Management Course (EMC). The participants were of the ranks of Major Generals and Colonels of the Nigerian Army as well as Air Vice Marshals of the Nigerian Airforce for nine (9) months in various batches as shown below.
S/N PROGRAMME 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Executive
Management 11 9 13 NIL NIL 9 11 10
Course
Total = 63
Successful competency tests/promotion examinations were conducted for staff of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA),Shippers’ Council as well as Directors of Edo, Adamawa, Bayelsa States Civil Services amongst others. Through the mandatory training programme for CEOs of Federal parastatals, significant inroads were made into capacity-building spaces of Agencies that have never patronized or have stopped patronising ASCON.
The ASCON Journal of Management has been resuscitated and rebranded to be known as the ASCON Journal of Management and Public Administration. ASCON has finalized plans to begin offering training programmes on its e-learning platform.
As part of consistent Staff Development efforts which is critical for organizational survival, eligible staff were released on study leave with pay covering PhDs, professional courses such as ANAN, and First and Masters Degrees as shown in the table below:
S/N PROGRAMME 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
1. Ph.D. 3 1 1 6 3 2 1 2
2. Masters and First
Degree 16 6 3 7 11 15 10 7
3. Professional
(ANAN & ICAN) 3 1 5 4 5 2 2 —–
4. PGD —– —– 1 —– —– 1 1 —–
5. ND and HND 2 1 —– 2 4 3 6 —–
6. Workshop and
Conferences
(National & 59 202 132 34 76 61 76 29
International)
Sub-Total (Annual) 83 211 142 53 99 84 96 38
Grand Total = 806
In the area of revenue generation, under the leadership of the incumbent Director-General,for the first time, revenue of some hundreds of millions of Naira was paid into the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federal Government.
Looking Ahead
As ASCON celebrates its 50th anniversary, it stands as a beacon of excellence in public sector management. The institution’s rich history, comprehensive training programmes, impactful research, and strategic partnerships have solidified its position as a leader in the field of capacity building. Looking ahead, ASCON is poised to continue its mission of developing competent and efficient public service professionals, adapting to the changing needs of the public sector, and contributing to the overall development and governance of Nigeria and the African continent.
ASCON’s vision for the future includes expanding its training programmes to include more specialized and advanced courses, increasing its research and consultancy services, and strengthening its collaborations and partnerships with national and international organizations.
Due to the crucial role the ASCON’s research and consultancy services could play in informing public policy and improving public administration practices, the institution plans to expand these services to address emerging challenges and opportunities in the public sector. This includes conducting more in-depth research on topics such as digital governance, public sector innovation, and sustainable development. The institution also plans to leverage technology to enhance its training and service delivery, ensuring that it remains at the forefront of public sector management and development.
Technological Advancements
In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, ASCON is embracing technology to enhance its training delivery and overall operational efficiency. The institution has already begun integrating e-learning platforms and virtual classrooms to provide flexible and accessible training opportunities for public servants across Nigeria and beyond. This digital transformation is aimed at reaching a wider audience, reducing barriers to training, and ensuring that public servants can continue their professional development regardless of location.
Conclusion
In conclusion, ASCON at 50 is not just a celebration of the past but a commitment to the future. The institution’s legacy of excellence and its continuous pursuit of innovation and improvement ensures that it will remain a cornerstone of public administration and management development for many years to come. As ASCON looks ahead, it is poised to continue its mission of developing competent and efficient public service professionals, contributing to the overall development and governance of Nigeria and the African continent. With its rich history, comprehensive training programmes, impactful research, and strategic partnerships, ASCON is well-equipped to meet the evolving needs of the public sector and drive positive change in public administration in Nigeria for the good of the economy.