The Chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC), Prof. Tunji Olaopa has said that the Commission’s 2024 Promotion examination exercise will be on Computer Based Test (CBT) in line with the modernization and digitization programme in the Federal Civil Service.
He also said that restoring competency based human resource (HR) practice and merit system in civil service will be meaningless if the intended reforms fail to address the wage and compensation dimension of meritocracy.
Olaopa who stated this on Thursday at the maiden Federal Civil Service Commission’s Monthly-Seminar Series for officers on grade levels 14 and above; opined that his numerous engagements with the Chairman, National Income, Salary and Wages Commission whose insights were re-assuring and solution context was important in the Commission’s reform agenda.
The event gave the Commissioners and Management Staff opportunities to express their views. Director of Promotion, Mr. Sani Torankawa presented a Seminar-paper tagged: “Institutional framework and procedures for the conduct of Directorate level Promotion Examination: Guaranteeing Integrity, Credibility, Transparency and Accountability”.
The Chairman in his opening speech noted that the objective of the maiden-monthly-seminar series was to institute a seminar-space and learning-lab for federal officers. He added that the seminar was one of the avenues the Commission deepens the sharing and learning of key reform issues and benchmarking in Nigeria.
He said the Commission will transit through the upcoming 2024 Promotion examination exercise from analogue to Computer Based Test (CBT) in tandem with the modernization and digitization of Federal Civil Service core operations.
Reeling out how the digitization is going to be implemented, Olaopa said the Commission will roll out an online-recruitment portal that will be accessible to all Nigerians and which will allow eligible candidates to pre-fill recruitment form and update them from time to time in preparation for the placement of adverts for recruitment into the public service and to the Federal service and in preparation for assessment and interview.
The Chairman, in a statement by the commission’s Head, Press and Public Relations, Mr. Taiwo Hassan, revealed that henceforth eligible candidates will undergo computer based test and oral interview with result collated and released real-time.
He further revealed that the Commission was going into out-sourcing contract with National Open University and by extension with Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) both as technical partners with a view to take advantage of their infrastructure, networks and experience for online-accreditations, computer based test and examination as well as promotion-interview for officers in the Federal Service starting with Directorate level officers.
He said the seminar was convened to critically examine some of the first level issues and risks associated with the planned transition from analogue to online-computer based assessment processes as they touch on promotion exercises for Federal civil servants.
“We are not just looking at digitizing our online processes, computer based processes; we are also going to listen to some of the stakeholders who have been in this service, who have observed the way promotions are conducted,” he said, adding that a lot of technical conversation will follow going-forward where some experts including Ministers that are doing well in computerization of their services will be invited to critique what the Commission is doing as part of due diligence to make sure that the Commission is doing the right thing.
He asserts that social-media orientation will be carried out where sets of media-clip will be made available to all civil servants to enable them to know the process for computer based assessment. He added that civil servants will also be taking through some orientation sessions conducted by the Head of Service in the form of mock-test to prepare officers for the 2024 promotion examination scheduled to hold in the 3rd quarter of this year.
Citing COVID19 pandemic as a case in point, he pointed out that ICT were used to work remotely from office seamlessly; saying that the Commission will not be distracted by voices that believe that the initiative will not work.
He stressed that the Commission will continue to perfect the process as the programme is being deployed. “We are going to do it whether we score 50 per cent or whatever,” he said.
The Chairman also informed that apart from digitization and computerization programme being contemplated by the organization, there were other phases to be unveiled in due course which will be geared towards Commission’s reform plans once the endorsement of the President Ahmed Bola Tinubu is secured.
He emphasized that the Commission’s staff capacity and institutional structure need to be upgraded to sustain the momentum that various reform will create. He noted that as all efforts are channel to strengthen the professionalism of the Federal bureaucracy, the establishment of professionalized and modernized Federal Civil Service in line with the Renew-Hope Agenda of the government cannot be overemphasized.