Three Years on from Ditchley
| Author | S. S. Richardson |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/j.1099-162X.1967.tb00297.x |
| Published date | 01 July 1967 |
| Date | 01 July 1967 |
Three
Years on from Ditchley
By
S.
S.
RICHARDSON
Mr.
Richardson is Director,
Institute
of Administration, Ahrnadu Bello University,
Zaria, Nigeria.
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THREE
years ago the Directors of Institutes of Administration in the Common-
wealth discussed at Ditchley Park the relative merits
of
the independent Insti-
tute, the Institute within a University and the Institute established as a train-
ing department of government. A number of new countries in Africa were at
the time on the point of taking decisions on these issues and the results
would appear to confirm the division of opinion manifest at Ditchley in that
some countries have opted for the University Institute and some for full
control by the government of the national administrative training programme.
Northern Nigeria has exploited both possibilities in an effort to extract
maximum yield from her massive investment in training. No country in
Africa appears to have experimented with an independent national institution
although CAFRAD is a supra-national new comer in the field backed by
multi-lateral assistance. It may be pertinent to consider how far the con-
clusions of the Ditchley Conference remain valid in the light of the experience
gained since 1963 by institutions moulded in these various patterns. On the
assumption that all African governments at least are wedded to some such
objectives, the essential requirement remains, that an Institute should show
a quick
payoff
in furthering national objectives for social and economic
development. An Institute cannot function effectively in this role in isolation
from the government (or governments) which it seeks to serve. Ivory
towers, 'think tanks' and prophets crying in the wilderness are peripheral
in their impact on governments seeking to grapple with the day to day
problems of societies evolving as rapidly as are the new countries of Africa.
Pressure of events forces changes of signals at a speed which confounds
experts from more stable and more fully developed countries where the
momentum of the economy and the established order of governmental
procedures afford time for longer range planning based upon accurately
founded statistical data. A failure by a training institution to train sufficient
numbers of persons to fill a substantial proportion of vacancies in key admini-
strative positions invites a harassed government to appoint unqualified
persons or to accept crash programmes completely inadequate in terms of
time and content. Hence the need not to permit the academic requirements
of a University for entry qualifications and residence to inhibit unduly the
development of an administrative training programme and to reduce the
capacity of a faculty to meet the critical needs of the government flexibly.
The
alternative is the need to tolerate periodic injections of poorly qualified
men into the public service to bridge the gap caused by the failure of the
institution to produce. Nothing can wreck a programme and destroy the
morale
of
students more quickly than such evidence that, in certain circum-
stances, a long period of professional training will be discounted by a govern-
ment in desperate need of staff for day to day requirements.
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