The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has conducted promotional examinations for 6,000 directorate cadre staff under the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC) across Nigeria and four other countries.

JAMB Registrar, Prof Ishaq Oloyede, who spoke to newsmen at the computerbased test (CBT) Kogo, Bwari Area Council yesterday, said the exam was also conducted for candidates in the UK, USA, India and Egypt.

He stated: “I think that it’s important to say that this is a very bold initiative on the part of the Federal Civil Service Commission and I’m not surprised about that because of the visionary leadership. I also believe that people do not need to die before death.

“You could see the apprehension when people are coming in as if computers are something that they could not handle but we have a system, a system that allows you alternative routes.

“Once you know how to use your cell phone, you’ll be able to write our examination successfully because it’s just A B C and you don’t need to touch the mouse. This examination is taking place not only within Nigeria; it’s also taking place in four countries across the world. It’s taking place in the UK, US, India and in Egypt. These are the four countries where we have deployed our personnel.

“I believe that with what the Federal Civil Service Commission is doing, people will be less apprehensive about using computer because when I came into the hall, I could see apprehension, but by the time they saw what the instruction was and so on, I asked so many of them any question, they were just smiling.”

Also speaking, the Commissioner representing FCT and Niger on the Federal Civil Service Commission (FSCE), Dr Hussaini Adamu, said he was impressed with the performance of the candidates, revealing that the assessment commenced yesterday with about 1,500 candidates participating in three sessions.

“I don’t have the figure up here, but I know they are in the thousands because even in this hall, we have more than 500 seats and we conducted three batches yesterday, which possibly might be about 1,500 and we are also going to conduct another three today.” Also speaking, Chairman FSCE, Prof Adetunji Olaopa who disclosed that the commission was using CBT for promotion exam of staff for the first time, disclosed he was impressed with the success recorded in the examination of 6,000 candidates for the director cadre.