The House of Representatives Adhoc Committee sitting to review the duplication of Government Agencies has proposed the merger of the Administrative State College of Nigeria, ASCON, and the Public Service Institute of Nigeria, PSIN.

The Committee, headed by Hon. Victor Danzaria, said this was due to the overlapping function of both agencies.

Danzaria said it was costing the government a lot of money to maintain agencies with similar responsibilities.

He said this when the Director General of ASCON, Mrs. Cecilia Gayya, appeared before the committee, in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.

The Director General of ASCON, Mrs. Cecilia Gayya, had earlier said the agency overlaps with, PSIN, in areas including training, consultancy and research.

She said while ASCON has an Act backing it, the PSIN did not.

She, however, said the two institutions could exist side by side. She said they overlap in practice but not in law and called for a review of the ASCON Act to broaden its mandate