An Examination Of The Effectiveness Of The Teaching And Learning Practices Adopted By Specialized Training Institutions In Nigeria

A developing nation like Nigeria with its vast population has numerous public-sector organizations which are run by significant numbers of public servants and are overtly owned and controlled by the state government and federal agencies. This study set out to examine the effectiveness of specialized training institutions on the capacity development of public servants with especial emphasis on capacity development as a tool for improving performance in Nigeria’s public service. The research problem centered on identifying the challenges associated with the long-standing training approaches practiced in the public institutions and understanding how the training approaches of the specialized training institutions proffer solutions to the identified issues. As a corollary of this, the purpose of the study was to examine the effectiveness of specialized training institutes on the capacity development of public servants. The study gathered the perceptions of public servants  as regards the activities of specialized training institutions, evaluating the availability and contribution of specialized training institutes to meeting public servant’s career needs, and the opinions of public servants on the conventional training approach. The study adopted a mixed-methods research approach, qualitative data were obtained from ten participants who are training managers of different specialized training institutions through face-to-face interview while the quantitative data were obtained from 100 public servants through an online questionnaire. The qualitative data were analyzed using NVivo analysis software while the quantitative data was analyzed using SPSS statistical analysis software. Results obtained from the analysis revealed that the specialized training institutions in Nigeria focused on specific areas of expertise, making them effective in carrying out targeted training with the relevant public officer as participants. The study exposed public servants to the importance of specialized training, and the impact of training institutions. For further research, the study recommends examining policies that will set standards for operational training institutions and empower them with the mandate of functionalities.