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‘ASCON, Adding Value To Civil Service Through Training’
The Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON) is adding value to the country’s civil service through training of civil servants and other capacity development initiatives.
The Director General of the college, Mrs Cecelia Gayya, said this in an interview with newsmen in Abuja.
Gayya said that the college had conducted many training programmes at both the national and international levels.
She recalled that some staff of the Gambian government as well as those of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and Office of the Head of Service of the Federation among others had been trained at the college.
Gayya also said the college had trained more than 400 staff of NPA in the last three years while it had been conducting promotion exercises for staff of NIMASA in the last four years.
She added that customer satisfaction had been evident through the repeated patronage recorded.
Gayya further said the college had been involved in the mandatory manpower training organised by the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation for about four years for staff on Grade Levels between eight and 13.
Gayya said that some of the major challenges currently facing the college are inadequate funding as well as issues revolving around personnel development and sponsorship.
“The major challenge has been in terms of personnel, because the staff that started ASCON had excellent training nationally and internationally.
“Again, these days getting sponsorship the way we did before is becoming more and more difficult.
“So one of our challenges is in consistently and constantly building the competencies of our facilitators to enable them deliver on our mandate.
“ We cannot give what we don’t have, so that is our challenge that we need to put our eyes on, so that our staff don’t become outdated in terms of the kind of knowledge they bring to bear on their jobs,” she said.
She also said the college had been partnering with other organisations such as the African Management Development Institute and Ghana Institute of Management to tackle some of its challenges.
Gayya said the college also received funding from Japan in the training of 25 staff while two others were trained in South Africa.
“ One of the things we are doing is to engage in partnership with organisations; for example, we are in partnership with the Ghana Institute of Management.
“For the purpose of staff exchange, we are also in partnership with the African Management Development Institute.
“We have also gotten some sponsorship from Japan, we had 25 of our staff trained last year and we had two of them trained in South Africa for a period of about three months.
“So those are some of the ways we are trying to overcome the challenge of funding.
“We are also in partnership with the West Africa Management Development Institute which helped us to train some of our staff just last year.
In spite of the institution’s challenges,Gayya expressed the hope that ASCON will be revitalised in the three cardinal areas of facilities enhancement,staff development and revenue generation.
ASCON located in Topo, Badagry, was established in 1973 by the Federal Government as a management development institution.
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I’m Committed To Community Dev – Ajinwo
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RSG Tasks Rural Dwellers On RAAMP …As Sensitization Team Visits Akulga, Degema, Three Others

Rivers State Head of Service, Dr (Mrs) Inyingi Brown, has called on rural communities in the State to embrace the Rural Access and Agricultural marketing project (RAAMP) with a view to improving their living conditions.
This follows the ongoing sensitization campaign by the State Project Implementation Unit (SPIU) visits to Degema, Abonnema, Afam headquarters of Degema, Akuku Toru and Oyigbo Etche and Omuma local government areas respectively.
Dr Brown who was represented by the Deputy Director, Special Duties in her office, Mrs Dein Akpanah, said RAAMP was initiated by the Federal Government and World Bank to economically empower rural dwellers.s
She said the World Bank understands the plights of rural farmers and traders in the State, and therefore came up with the programme to address them.
According to her, RAAMP will improve the conditions of farmers, traders and fishermen, and therefore, behoves on every rural communities in the State to embrace the programme.
The Head of Service also said the programme would support the youths to be gainfully employed while bridges and roads will be built to link farms and fishing settlements.
Also speaking, the State project coordinator, Mr Joshua Kpakol, said the programme has the potential of creating millionaires among farmers and fishermen in the State.
Kpakol who was represented by Engr. Sam Tombari, said RAAMP would help farmers and fishermen to preserve their produce.
According to him, the project will build cold rooms and Silos for preservation of crops and fishes while access roads will also be created to link farmers and fishermen to the market.
He, however, warned them against any act that will lead to the suspension of the projects by the World Bank.
Kpakol particularly warned against acts such as kidnapping, marching ground, gender based violence and child labour, adding that such acts if they occur may lead to the cancellation of the project by the World Bank.
During the visit to Oyigbo local government area, Mr Joshua Kpakol, said the team was there to let them know how they will benefit from the Raamp.
The coordinator who was personally at Oyigbo said the World Bank introduced the project to check food insecurity in the State.
He said already 19 states in Nigeria are already benefitting from the project and called on them to embrace the project.
Meanwhile, stakeholders in the three local government areas have commended the World Bank for including their areas in the project.
They, however, complained over the incessant attacks by pirates on their waterways.
At Degema, King Agolia of Ke kingdom said land was a major problem in the kingdom.
King Agolia represented by High Chief Alpheus Damiebi said many indigenes of the kingdom are willing to go into farming but are handicapped by lack of land.
Also at Degema, the representative of the Omu Onyam Ekeim of Usokun Degema kingdom, Osoabo Isaac, said Degema has embraced the programme but needed more information on the implementation of the programme.
Similarly, while High Chief Precious Abadi advised that the project should not be narrowed to only crop farming, a community women leader, Mrs Orikinge Eremabo Otto, called for the construction of cold rooms in all fishing settlements in the area.
At Abonnema, Mr Diamond Kio linked the problem of the area to incessant piracy along waterways.
He also expressed fears over the possibility of the project being hijacked by politicians.
Also at Abonnema, a stakeholder, Ikiriko Kelvin, called on the World Bank to design an agricultural project that will suit the riverine environment, while at Oyigbo, HRH Eze Boniface Akawo expressed satisfaction with the project.
John Bibor
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Senate Replaces Natasha As Committee Chairman

The political mudslinging between the Senate leadership and Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan continued yesterday as the Senate named Senator Aniekan Bassey as the new Chairman of the Committee on Diaspora and Non-Governmental Organisations.
Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, announced the appointment during yesterday’s plenary, confirming Bassey’s replacement of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, who is currently on suspension.
Akpoti-Uduaghan was reassigned to the Diaspora and NGOs Committee in February after she was removed as Chair of the Senate Committee on Local Content during a minor reshuffle.
Bassey is the senator representing Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District.
Although no reason was given for her removal yesterday, the change is believed to be connected to her unresolved suspension.
In May, Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court ordered her reinstatement and directed her to tender an apology to the Senate.
However, the Senate has insisted it has not received a certified true copy of the court judgment.
Akpoti-Uduaghan who represents Kogi Central, has yet to resume her legislative duties despite a recent court ruling that voided her suspension.
In a televised interview on Tuesday, Akpoti-Uduaghan said she was awaiting the Certified True Copy of the judgment before officially returning to plenary, citing legal advice and respect for institutional process.
Although the Federal High Court described her suspension as “excessive and unconstitutional”, a legal opinion dated July 5 and attributed to the Senate’s counsel, Paul Daudu (SAN), argued that the ruling lacked any binding directive to enforce her reinstatement.
Akpoti-Uduaghan, one of only three female senators in the current assembly, said the continued delay in allowing her return was not only a denial of her mandate but also a blow to democratic representation.
“By keeping me out of the chambers, the Senate is not just silencing Kogi Central, it’s denying Nigerian women and children representation. We are only three female senators now, down from eight,” she said.
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