…As Chairman Decry Age Falsification among workers
The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Civil Service Commission has said 915 workers, mostly Assistant and Deputy directorate cadre, have been cleared for a Computer-Based Promotion examination.
The Commission said that the participants, drawn from the Universal Basic Education Board (UBEB), Secondary Education Board ( SEB), Education Secretariat and other Departments and Agencies, would have to prove their qualification for the next level through the examination.
Chairman of the Commission, Emeka Eze, who decried age and other documents falsification among the workers, said the Commission had commenced the process of curbing fraud in the service.
He disclosed that while the verification exercise to determine the FCT workforce was yet to be completed, he said that those found to have been involved in age falsification to illegally elongate their service years have been asked to retire.
Emeka noted that the computer-based examination was introduced to ensure that those who would move to substantive positions as directors are well qualified to face modern technology-driven challenges associated with the work.
He also disclosed that the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, who created the Commission with the approval of President Bola Tinubu, wanted to resolve the backlog of promotions that had been pending for many years.
He said, “ We started by doing, first and foremost, a verification exercise to establish the number of the workforce in FCT. And having almost finished that, the next level is to clear the backlog of promotions over the years.
“ When His Excellency, Minister, came on board, there was a backlog of outstanding promotions, to the extent that by 2023, when he came, he cleared all the backlogs of promotions dating back up to 2019, up to the level of deputy directors.
“ And as part of the Renewed Hope Agenda of the present administration, we needed to introduce technology to avoid, first of all, the possibility of interference and pressures.
“And so, we will be the first commission to introduce CBT tests in Nigeria. Because the idea is that as we are finishing the result today, by next week the result will be out.
“So there’s no possibility of anybody putting pressure on anybody for it. So this is a part of the renewed hope agenda of the present administration”.
Also speaking, Martins Azubuike, Representative of South-East in the Commission, stated that participants who fail to scale through in the exams will have no one to blame for remaining in their position.
Azubuike also disclosed that the computer-based tests have come to stay in the system, and it remains a measure that will encourage workers to update their digital skills.
“ If you can’t operate it, it means you can’t answer your questions. And at the end of the day, the computer will grade you. If it is zero, the computer will grade you.
“And those who are able to operate the computer and answer correctly, and of course, come at the top, will get promoted to the tune of the number of vacancies”.
