Ban On Foreign Training For Govt Workers

The Federal Government of Nigeria recently took a bold step by placing a ban on all foreign training by government officials and workers. This move, which many believe could have come before now, is a welcome development and deserves commendation. Precisely, the Federal Government through a circular from the Office of the Head of the Civil Service banned all federal ministries and agencies from embarking on foreign training for their workers. This foolowed the revelation that the country spends over $158 million yearly on overseas training.

Before now, several stakeholders had expressed reservations on these foreign trainings, which they claimed served more as an opportunity for the beneficiaries to earn estacodes, and not the needed human capacity building it ought to bring about. This of course is believed to have been responsible for the scramble for overseas training in government ministries and agencies.

The overseas training is quite unnecessary and a huge waste of resources since there are local management resource centres such as the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON), Nigerian Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), as well as the Nigerian Institute for Management (NIM), which the Centre for Management Development, CMD, has been working in partnership with.

In this age and time, and except in areas where the nation appears deficient, it beats logic for government officials to be sent on foreign training. Government must learn to develop and patronise local content, which the CMD and its recognised institutions and consultants represent.

As the operational arm of the National Council for Management Development, CMD is charged with the responsibility of inspecting and registering management consultants in terms of their code of practice in Nigeria. It is therefore unfortunate that rather than refer to the CMD as a first port of call in their training needs, ministries and agencies preferred to fly off-shore for trainings which could be conveniently and professionally done locally. This is sad as those in charge of these trainings only end up presenting themselves to Nigerians as turncoats.

As part of efforts to consolidate the foreign training ban, the country’s Centre for Management Development (CMD) has rightfully said that it would soon commence inspection and accreditation of all management consultants and institutions in the country. We commend this move by CMD, and urge the agency to take advantage of this ban to lead the way in the development of the nation’s capacity building, particularly in the aspect of human resource development.