By Stella Odueme
The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HoSF), Mrs Didi Esther Walson-Jack has reiterated the need for public servants to align with the digitalisation policy of the Federal Civil Service and the Renewed Hope Agenda of the present Administration.
She stated this while addressing the media during a tour of some designated Centres for the 2024 compulsory Confirmation and Promotion Examination (COMPRO) Computer Based Test (CBT) conducted by the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF) in collaboration with the Joint Admissions Matriculation Board (JAMB) on Wednesday in Abuja.
The HoSF, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary Common Services Office, Mr. Raymond Omachi, expressed satisfaction with the CBT process deployed for the examination, stating that the process will not only ease result transmission time, but will also ensure transparency and efficiency in the dervice.
Mrs. Walson-Jack added that the CBT examination is in line with the digitalization policy drive imbedded in Pillar 5 of the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan 2021-2025 (FCSSIP-25) which is also in sync with the vision of the present administration on quality service delivery and sustainable development
“For you to be relevant in today’s Civil Service under the digitalisation programme, you must be computer literate and you need to up your game if you are not in that position yet because there are programmes put in place to train officers in line with global best practices.”, she added.
Also speaking during the tour, the Permanent Secretary, Career Management Office (CMO), Mrs Fatima Mahmood stated that the CBT Examination is meant to test the knowledge of officers on the rudiment of the service having spent two (2) years on probation as public servants, stressing that the choice of CBT, rules out cheating and manipulation thereby creating room for a seamless process.
Mrs. Mahmood further said that attaining the digitalization reform policy objectives of transforming the Federal Civil Service into a world-class service will involve leveraging technology to improve the skill gap of officers to make them competitive in today’s changing world.
“The deployment of technology has made it easy to conduct the examination simultaneously in 45 centres nationwide”, she added.
Mrs Fatima thanked JAMB Management for collaborating with the OHCSF to further entrench meritocracy, professionalism and integrity in the Service.
The Acting Director Information Technology Services Department of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, Mrs. B-Usman Funmilola affirmed that the officers were already conversant with the CBT exams. “These candidates are in tune with the CBT exams, their attitude shows that they are ready for the examination and no record of any reported incidence in all the centres.
Mrs B-Usman thanked the HoSF for entrusting the execution of such a huge and delicate task to the management of JAMB. She also stated that the quality control measures put in place by JAMB have helped to ensure proper monitoring of all the candidates in real-time.
The 2024 COMPRO exercise for junior category officers featured 12,444 candidates including the 2,324 from the FCT in the 45 centres nationwide.
The OHCSF is saddled with the responsibility of conducting the examination for public servants annually.
