The Association of Nigerian Public Administrators (ANPA) is agitating for the recruitment of certified and trained public administrators in Nigeria’s public/civil service sector as a means of halting the bureaucracy, corruption and paper pushing in the civil service.
Chairman Board of Trustees, ANPA and the Dean, Faculty of Social Science, National Open University of Nigeria, Abuja, Professor Kamal Bello, made this known at the 3rd annual international conference of the association held in Abuja.
Speaking at the event, Bello who noted that ANPA aims to give a unique voice to public administrators in the country, said post it’s early years of establishment, the association will devote itself to the agitation of the recruitment of public administrators into public offices in Nigeria.
According to him, a large number of employees in the public and civil service offices are not public administrators.
Rather they are from diverse fields of discipline, biologists, educationists, historians and even chemists, as he recalled a one-time Head of Civil Service – was a graduate of Chemistry.
This practice, he said, does not bode well for the nation’s public service as these people end up in governance without the basic prerequisites of a public administrators, and fumble in office.
Citing further discriminatory practices against public administrators, Bello said there are instances where public institutions demand public administrators hold a Business Administration degree as qualification for public service jobs.
He noted that government should ensure that civil/public servants without public administration background undergo proper training in public administration before resumption of office.
The association, he said, is setting an example by ensuring that prospective members must either be certified Bachelor’s, HND, Masters or Ph.D. holders in Public Administrators.
“We, as an association, are at their disposal as public administrators to train (non-certified public administrators) who want enter public/service, instead of them wasting money to organise improper trainings for them.”
“We need to agitate to let the people know that what is going on in the ministries on Nigeria is not good enough. They employ or recruit anybody to carry out administrative jobs.
“We are saying that even if they recruit non-certified public administrators, they should train the more,” urged Bello.
In addition to employing and training public administrators into public offices, a lead speaker at the annual conference, Professor Charles Nwekeaku of Nassarawa State University, Keffi, urged the incoming administration to deploy the New Public Management System, and the Alternative Public Service system, that is much more effective than the Traditional Public Service System which allows for corruption, ghost workers, bureaucracies, and makes no room for creativity and innovation.
The New Public Management and Alternative Public Service system, Nwekeaku said advocates for a wages system, which ensures everyone is paid according to their work. It allows for creativity and innovation. It allows for competition which tasks everyone in the system to sit-up and be held accountable.
“Abroad where alternative service delivery is practiced allows government to make changes that will keep the public service growing. The system observes wages payment, and is such that every government official, from top to bottom, are subject to scrutiny, thus mitigating corruption in governance.”
“Under the New Public Management, the role of CSOs are highly appreciated.”
To guarantee national development, Nigeria had to adopt the new management system, which will ensure everyone in office do what they are supposed to do,” stressed Nwekeaku.
Meantime, the occasion saw the investiture of an award and fellows of ANPA to three public officials: Comptroller, Salisu Mamman Aliyu Principal Staff Officer (PSO) to three comptroller generals of corrections at the NCoS; Commissioner Revenue Mobilization Allocation & Fiscal Commission, FCT, Ambassador Ayuba Jacob Ngbako; and Director Ministry of Works and Housing, FCT, Hajiya Aisha Ndayako.
Commending the association for the award, Ngbako, who has served various roles in the Nigerian public service, as AMAC Chairman, High Commissioner of Nigeria to the Republic of Gambia, among others, promised to help the association process a land in Abuja for its federal secretariat.
“The land sought for by the association is not for individuals rather for the development of the nation, which I know is what the President , Bola Tinubu wants to hear, and to know that the association exists to provide strategic service, and serve as a think-tank for the development of the nation.
“Administrators are supposed to provide fiscal policies, and show how monetary allocations can be made to all levels of government. It will not be a difficult thing to help process a land for ANPA’s Secretariat.”
Since it’s establishment in 2020, ANPA has grown in numbers from the initial 10 members to 350 members today. The association is registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and still amassing members from all parts of the country present at the conference.
“We hope by the next annual conference, we will have about 500 members,” said Bello.
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