CSO petitions National Assembly over ICT exams for perm secs

The New Era for Sustainable Leadership and Accountability Initiative (NESLAI), has appealed to the Federal Government to suspend the written and ICT examination for the five vacant federal permanent secretaries slated for Directors on Monday 31 May and Thursday 3 June 2021.

The Executive Director NESLAI, Comrade Edwin Olorunfemi, made the call on Thursday in Abuja during a rally at the federal secretariat and National Assembly to drive home their demand.

According to him, the idea of putting a director in the civil service through a written and ICT examination as prerequisite for appointment as permanent secretaries into federal ministries at the expense of competency and other variables is unacceptable.

He said that the organisation has submitted their petition to the Senate President Ahmed Lawan; Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila and the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HOCSF) Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan.

“The written examination and ICT Proficiency test slated for 31 May and 3 June be suspended and collapsed into oral interview and interactive session for the 47 successful accredited candidates from the five states of Ekiti, Enugu, Katsina, Lagos and Nasarawa, where candidates will be asked on-the-job questions and their achievement so far in their respective positions as directors.

“With this, the best three candidates from each state can be recommended to the Mr President for the appointment,” Olorunfemi said.

He, however, commended the Head of Service of the Federation Dr. Folashade Yemi-Esan for the selection of a noble committee chaired by Dr. Ajani Magdalene Nwanwuche, the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Transport and Co-chaired by Malam Mahmuda Mamman the Permanent Secretary of the Career Management Office in the Office of the Head of Service for the accreditation exercise.

He said, “However, our stand still remains that written and ICT examination be dropped because, it is worthy of note that, for a civil servant to rise to the level of Director, he/she must have sat for about 10 examinations from Grade level 08 to Grade level 17.

“It is laughable to subject a Director to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) proficiency test in Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint Application which is expected of the support staff. If anything, it is making a mess of the candidates and the entire civil service.”