Mrs Cecilia Gayya is the Director General of the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON). A graduate of Political Science and Political Economy from the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, Gayya joined ASCON in 2000 and passed through the rudiments before assuming her present position in April 2017. She told ISIOMA MADIKE and Podo Sunday, that ASCON is still a world-class Management Development Institute (MDI) with the mandate of management training, consultancy, research and allied services for performance improvement delivery in both public and private sectors of the Nigerian economy in spite of the numerous challenges brought about by the deregulation of the sector. Excerpts:

What are the major challenges facing the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON) today in the discharge of its statutory functions and what could be the likely solutions?

The very bad state of the Lagos -Badagry expressway in recent times that has affected the influx of participants to ASCON is a major challenge. But we thank the government as the narrative has changed; the Lagos – Badagry expressway is now wearing a new look. Our access roads are also better now and the hospital-ASCON Road is currently under construction. The Aradagun – Ajido Road has also provided an alternative route to ASCON from the expressway. Having said that, the challenge of power, how to get 24 hours electricity to effectively power our facilities so as to operate at optimal capacity is another. We need alternative sources of power in ASCON, be it solar or wind as the college could no longer run on diesel to supply 24 hours light to offices and chalets as the cost of diesel has jumped from about N7 million when I took over as the DG to about N45 million now. This has forced the college to venture into running a Public – Private – Partnership (PPP) arrangement where we now allow our partners to handle the kitchen and chalets to accommodate participants. They are also responsible for power supply. To meet up with its vision as a cutting-edge MDI, the management of ASCON is also contemplating running online programmes to reach out to as many as possible.

How have you been able to manage these challenges without losing focus on the Institute’s cure mandate?

Well, I started as an assistant director, which is a small unit here. Then I was assigned to the public adminihow woulstration and so whatever issues I had to handle had to do with that area. It will be noted that training had been deregulated before I came in, that means anyone so created could train which was not the case some years back. I must admit, however, that the deregulation of the training industry has put some pressure on ASCON as we now have Federal, States-owed and even private training institutes to contend with, like Public Service Institute of Nigeria (PSIN), Centre for Management Development (CMD) and several others. What that means is that we no longer enjoy the monopoly of yesteryears and that has put us on our toes.

How would your Institute survive with this new policy?

To survive in the new environment we found ourselves, we had to keep strategising to remain afloat. Our interest was to compete favourably with other organisations in the marketplace because the government had taken a decision to deregulate training. ASCON had to adapt and find its footing in the deregulated environment. Before now, the government would just send people here for training, but now you have to go out and market your products and use your contacts if you have any. That was the major challenge then when I came in as the DG. That said, I’d like you to note that ASCON remains a choice destination in management development training and capacity building for all sectors of the Nigerian economy. In spite of the deregulation of the training industry by the Federal Government, we are proud to say that we are tested and trusted in capacity building. We are blessed with resourceful personnel.

Would you say that ASCON is coping well with the competition that deregulation came with?

We had to continue to brainstorm and rely on goodwill over the years; the organisation had a lot of goodwill before then and we had to maximise that to our own advantage. But again, we had to go to the states and federal ministries to market our products. One other thing that is working for us is the fact that there is no public sector that you go to and you won’t find someone at the higher level who has been to ASCON. That was very useful and helpful to us as our products, I mean those who have passed through this place, are always willing to help in any way they can. Even though we were not getting clients in quantity as we were used to, we were still getting a chunk of them. In spite of the challenges of deregulation, ASCON remains the premier Management Development Institute (MDI) in the country, and it’s always ready to meet the research, consultancy and training needs of its clients.

From the way you speak, it does appear that your organisation lost a huge number of clients to the deregulation?

You are correct. At the inception of the college there were a lot of multinational organisations that were offering grants to train people and all that but because of the General Sani Abacha regime’s decision, all of that stopped. I remember when I came we were supposed to do management consulting and the head of department said that I had to go aboard which had been the practice then. Unfortunately, the government had stopped that and that was another big challenge. The college no longer had funding from external support to build the capacity of the staff. So, the college had to rely on in-house training to build the capacity of staff because already some people’s capacity had been built. All my training I had, I was trained in this college.

What are the other challenges of ASCON?

Well, the cost of things was cheaper than it is now. We used to buy, for instance, a truck of diesel for N3 million for a month so that we could have constant electricity but now a truck of diesel is N40 million and above; a truck of diesel, 33,000 liters of diesel every month. It kept moving up and now it has gone beyond what we can afford. Then, prices were moderate for us to pay, the subsidy then was five times higher than what we get today. And the subsidy dropped due to the economic situation in the country. Every sector is struggling and ASCON is not an exception. Then our subsidy was about N33 million a month, you can’t compare it to the N8 million a month today. That is the lity we have to face now.

Would you say that you have staff that understood this position and were ready to cooperate with you to achieve the set goals?

I think we have had understanding colleagues as we meet and discuss some of these issues from time to time. Everyone here is aware of the goings on. At one point, the road leading to the complex became terrible. I remembered in 2020 when we entered for a budget defense and the DG of budget we had what we called a general meeting to discuss the budgets for the year and I put up my hand and said the college needed intervention; the facilities were old and the older they are the more interventions we need. We weren’t getting enough. The DG of budget in the presence of every one said, who would come there. He was definitely referring to the bad roads leading to this complex. I stood up and said is it ASCON’s fault that the roads are bad; ASCON is not responsible for the bad roads. The other side is that if you leave it and wait for when the roads are good, by the time the roads are good the college will be in such a state that you will need triple or quadruple the amount to fix it and people just laughed and left it at that. I’m telling you this because even the authorities knew that these roads would have an effect on the college and it did because people would come here and tell you that they won’t come back again. The thing is that when something is good, a person will tell five people but when he has a bad story, he will tell 15 people. Even now that the roads are good, everywhere I go, people still ask about the roads. I tell them that our roads are good because you can’t compare what we have now to what we had three years ago. When people ask I say our roads have been fixed and they are perfect. Those who came that time when they come again, testify that the rods are better now. So, the road issue also de-marketed us for quite some time before they were fixed. I and my staff had to navigate this through and thank God for that but it can be better anyway.

The labour unions are demanding a new minimum wage. With the mirage of challenges facing your organisation, how would you be able to align with what they are proposing?

Our institute is a government-owned organisation and we pay what the government pays. Our salary scale is the Consolidated Research and Allied Institutions Salary Structure (CONRAISS) for research and allied institutes. We don’t determine it by ourselves.

Have you had any issue with the labour union in this organisation?

This place is ASCON but it’s not what it used to be. The important thing is for everyone to adapt, grow and thrive. That is it. The union here has been very inclusive. There is nothing hidden. Both the academic and non-academic staff know. If there is an issue I say bring your people and let’s go and talk to them. There are challenges. Despite the fact that our subvention from the government has decreased, the government requires that we pay 50 per cent of everything that we get to its purse. It wasn’t like that before. It was never like that before. It started in 2018.

Why the change?

It started in 2018 like I said earlier. That is what the policy is, we can’t say no. It’s a government organisation and the government also needed revenue for survival. Initially it was 25 per cent, it went up to 40 per cent and now it’s 50 per cent. We sat down to discuss these things. Even the people conducting programmes have to pay and that has an impact on our ability to expand our scope of action because the logistics for getting jobs has also increased. You can’t get a job without some logistics and these keep going up. Our own obligation to the government has also gone up. It’s a balancing act; the government has set up our account in such a way that when money comes in, 50 per cent goes to them; it’s automatic. You can’t even argue anything because they are looking for funds to run the government. It’s like saying that it is its own agencies that can provide those funds. ASCON has been put under the categories that will provide funds for the government and we have been doing that. For example, last year the college paid over N200 million into the consolidated funds. I can’t tell you the exact sum. Despite the fact that it’s difficult for us, I’m proud to say that we have not slacked on our responsibilities. If we are not working we will not get that amount as revenue for the government. We could have done better than that if issues like electricity and general insecurity did not rear their ugly heads.

What is ASCON doing with its massive structures?

The structures have become a distraction of some sort. And looking at the structures, some of them are about 50 years old, though still standing strong in addition to the new ones we have. Since the deregulation of the sector, most of our competitors are in Abuja, the seat of government. And clients have had to consider logistics in making their decisions because everybody wants to cut costs. So, we sat down to strategise on how to compete better and we decided to put ASCON on the wheels. We have now developed the capacity to train our participants anywhere in Nigeria and even outside if such opportunity arises. We meet our clients anywhere they prefer. They don’t necessarily have to come to ASCON facilities for their training anymore. Some of our personnel just returned from Zamfara and Kaduna states, for instance, where they went to train top government officials. And currently, the college is having about 39 chief executive officers (CEOs) of various MDAs undergoing higher management training and more are still being expected.

Some have insinuated that ASCON’s frosty relationship with the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation could be responsible for the dwindling fortunes of the Institute. How would you like to react to that?

That is not true. Frosty relationship with my boss, that is not possible. Remember the Head of Service of the Federation, Dr. Folashade Yemi-Esan, CFR, is the number one training officer of the nation and ASCON is directly under her. As far I am concerned, we are having a pleasant rapport and I can categorically tell you that we are having a smooth working relationship. I am even scheduled to be in her office soon. This is why it is reasonable to seek clarification on some dangerous rumours. I hope we have cleared the air now?

There are reports also that the OHOSF now places PSI above ASCON in areas of training programmes and budgetary allocation. What is your take on this?

The PSI is a unit of the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation (OHOSF) and that accounts for what you might be alluding to. In recent times, what the PSI gets is always higher than what comes to ASCON, but that also is subject to the discretion of the HOS, who is saddled with such responsibility as the number one training officer of the nation’s public service. She decides who gets what because we are all under her.