BY POLYCARP ONWUBIKO

THE original mandate of ASCON was to align the peculiar workings of public bureaucracy to the academic knowledge from the universities and polytechnics.

But having seen that the professional associations have succeeded in manipulating the leadership of the Federal Civil Service through the National Council on Establishment to make it mandatory for civil servants to pass their supposed professional examinations as a prerequisite for career progression. In addition to making fantastic fortunes, ASCON did the same thing and have become a gold mind for its staff.

Every year, ASCON extorts over N1 million  from candidates (public civil servants and graduate job seekers) from each state of the Federation and smile to their banks. These professional associations brazenly extort people and make billions of Naira every year as they increase their examination fees and the vainglorious and frivolous demands of their so-called induction ceremony rotated in the states for members who passed the supposedly wonderful examinations. They do so at their whims and caprices since government is so supine as to question their fraudulent manipulations, antics  and spurious claims.

The state and national legislators should wake up from their slumber and abolish these so called professional examinations for public servants. The fraudulent character of these so called professional examinations should be clearly perceptible by rational human beings with right intellectual perception and moral scruples.

These professional associations do not draw their supposed professional examination questions and text books from Heaven. For example, it takes over N700,000 for one to register and pay ICAN and ANAN examination fees and over N5000 to register for a one half hour ASCON examination. The fact remains that these so-called professional examinations are inferior to the syllables and course contents in the universities and polytechnics. The deception is clear to a rational thinker.

A situation where a holder of four-year degree programmes in Public Administration or Mass Communication cannot be made an administrative officer or an information officer GL. 08, until the person passes a one and half hour ASCON examination at B score, is deceptive and silly, to say the least. If the leadership professional associations are not fraudulent but patriotic, let them make available to the universities and polytechnics those wonderful syllables and course contents to be taught to the students in the institutions of higher learning.

The bottom line is that the legislators should be alive to their duties and review all the retrogressive statutes in the country. They have much to do rather than preparing for endless tenure in the legislature and award to themselves fantastic salaries, allowances, perquisites and take trips to the so-called retreats where they learn only what God knows. There should be true Federation to enable the constituent states develop at their own pace and run their respective civil services in accordance with their peoples’ aspirations and yearnings.

University and polytechnic degrees and certificates are enough to equip the graduates to discharge their duties in the public service as have been the case since the colonial administration. They do not need any other examination from purely private bodies which these so called professional examinations represent.

ASCON should face its original responsibility and stop conducting the ASCON examination from where they brazenly extort people to enable their workers live like kings and lords, in addition to the huge subventions it receives from the Federal Government to pay their staff special salaries and mouth watering allowance packages. The authority has to account for the extortions since it started the spurious examination.

State governments which have become slaves to the antics of the professional associations should release the accumulated promotions of the affected workers who have worked productively with university and polytechnic degrees and certificates. People have worked and retired happily without the so-called professional examination. These impediments in the service progression in the civil service should be jettisoned to remove exasperation and frustration from the dedicated and devoted workers.

The incontrovertible fact remains that university and polytechnic course contents are adequate for the needs of the public service, organised public sector and private enterprises. New insights can be complemented through seminars, workshops and short term programmes in the Training Centres like ASCON.

Polycarp Onwubiko is a Public affairs commentator Awka, Anambra State