Isaac N. Obasi
The news of the organization of a five-day induction training programme for newly recruited officers (grade level 07-10) by the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF) at the Public Service Institute of Nigeria (PSIN) Abuja recently, was a heartwarming one. The hosting of the training workshop is remarkable as it is a milestone in the annals of the positive history of the federal Service. Addressing the participants at the workshop, the Acting Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan underscored very rightly the importance of the induction training in the performance improvement of the service. She announced that the induction workshop ‘marks the restoration of the service-wide induction training that has been suspended for about seven years now for lack of adequate funding’ (see Daily Sun, Tuesday, February 4, 2020, p.10).
For too long now, the service-wide induction or orientation training fell into abeyance even when important stakeholders recognized its place and pivotal role in equipping the young minds and helping them to cut their teeth in their learning journey and career in the civil service system. It appeared over the years, that those at the helm of affairs were not bothered even when the incalculable damage caused by lack of orientation trainingof new entrants manifested palpably.
When the importance of such training was raised in seminars and workshops, the usual complaint of lack of(or inadequate) funds was given as an alibi. Ironically and surprisingly too, those who denied the new entrants the knowledge and tools for administrative effectiveness, turned round to blame their victims for lack of proper training in the universities.
Close to two decades ago, precisely under the Obasanjo administration, some notable and top civil servants were overheard complaining in seminars and workshops that university graduates who entered the civil service then were poorly trained. Some of the new graduates were said to be unemployable, while some others were accused of not being able to draft simple minutes of meetings or cope with some intellectually challenging activities as well as in other routine administrative activities. Again, part of the accusation then was that many of the new entrants(who had spent two to three years) were not knowledgeable in the guiding tools of the service such as theCivil Service Rules (now Public Service Rules), Financial Regulations (FM), or eventhe Financial Memoranda, andHandbook on Local Government Administration(for those employed in the Local Governments service).
But upon inquiry on these accusations, one discovers that the same top officers who were complaining,were the ones who denied the new entrants the benefits of the much needed orientation or induction training where these useful learning resources would have been introduced. To make matters worse, these working tools were not even made available to the new officers in the offices. Although the new entrants had learnt the theoriesand associated principles in their universities, they still needed to be exposed to the actual practice by being armed with the relevant working tools, manuals and operational guidelines which sometimes vary across specialized departments of government.
This is the standard practice in the world of work across the globe. This is even more crucial in our country with little or no practical exposure through the Internship programme. How many Departments of Public Administration in this country are running a functioning Internship programme which should be a key component of their undergraduate programme? A little comparison with Botswana will drive the message home. As at the time I left the services of the University of Botswanaa decade ago, Internship programme remained an important component of the B.Sc degree programme in Public Administration. Despite the vast nature of the country, internship supervision by lecturers with the institution’s official cars was a routine standard practice. So what makes the difference you may ask? The government funding of the university and education generally, was a priority.
Secondly, good, non-corrupt and accountable leadership (even with inadequate funding) made makes the huge difference that enabled things to work. Coming home now, this is perhaps where a committed leadership makes the difference in the restoration of the service-wide induction training programme in the Nigerian federal service. May this never fall into abeyance again.
A closer inquiry of the claimed lack of funds in Nigeria will be shocked to know that even though budgetary provisions for important things like orientation training were made, no such training took place because the funds had been misapplied or outrightly misappropriated. This writer at time (in his newspaper column then) had to make a persuasive case for the restoration of the induction training as a way of bridging the knowledge and skills gaps of the new entrants. This writer equally decried the unethical practice of blaming the victimsof what was clearly a corrupt conduct of the top officers who should bear much of the blame for lack of induction training.It is against this backdrop that thiswriter welcomes the restoration of the service-wide induction training programme as a civil service time-tested and honoured practice whose time was long overdue after going into abeyance.
As the Head of Service,Dr. Yemi-Esan aptly observed, the benefits of the induction training include ‘saving a lot time and resources; reduction of employee turnover; improvement of operational efficiency; making the employee feel valued; and the establishment and promotion of good organizational communication among other benefits’.
It is not an overstatement to add that the restoration of service-wide induction training would promote shared learning among the peers. Furthermore, for a multi-ethnically diverse Service as ours, it would promote social interaction and harmony as well as healthy collaboration among them. Lastly, mutual respect and social bonding that would result from friendships made would be enduring if properly nurtured in their career path.
Prof. Obasi is of the Department of Public Administration, University of Abuja via [email protected]