Reactions when 9,000 federal civil servants failed promotion exams
Nigerians were shocked to the bone by the news that over 9,000 civil servants who took the 2022 Federal Civil Service Commission promotion examination failed.
According to the report, the list of workers' performance was obtained from the Federal Civil Service Commission.
About 13,000 civil servants took part in the exam held at about 69 computer-based exam centers across the country, with more than 9,000 failing and fewer passing, DAILY POST gathered. The number was close to 4,000.
The report said the candidates were drawn from core civil services, including the Nigeria Police Force and other paramilitary and professional agencies.
The report also said that the letter containing the list of successful civil servants was dated November 30, 2023 and was sent by the Federal Civil Service Commission.
The letter was tagged “FC.6241/S.35/Vol.xi/T12/268”, signed by Sanibello, Director of Promotions, and addressed to the Federation’s Office of the Director of Civil Service.
A quick look at the list shows that of the more than 13,000 civil servants who took promotion exams, only 3,851 passed and the rest failed.
Since the report was released, Nigerians have reacted, with many saying that the main problem facing the country today is that of unqualified and stupid civil servants.
Those who hold this view contend that civil servants in any country are the administrative engine that keeps the country's government running.
The debate was led by Livinus Eze, a mechanical engineer who lamented that recruitment into the Nigerian civil service is no longer based on merit, but rather on “connections”.
He told DAILY POST: “I remember in those days civil servants were held in high esteem because they were believed to be very intelligent.
“Back then, when you heard someone was a permanent secretary, you knew that such a person personified experience, ability and intelligence.
“But what do we have today? We have a lot of ordinary people flaunting their public service.”
How did this country find itself in such low water?
He said, “The problem started with the introduction of a quota system in the recruitment process. The quota system allowed unqualified people to get jobs in the civil service based on their place of origin.
“For me, quotas ensure that one region of the country does not dominate another, and there is nothing wrong with that. If this is not possible, appropriate action will be taken.'' What is needed is to fill the vacancies with competent and qualified personnel from outside the region.
“But in Nigeria, as long as you are from the state or region where certain vacancies have to be filled, you will be given the job regardless of your ability or qualifications. And that is the trouble with our civil servants. .
“How can you explain what happened? Out of 13,000 civil servants, fewer than 4,000 took and passed the regular promotion examinations, which I believe were conducted according to job specifications. Is that so? And over 9000 failed?
“So what are they doing with their big salaries at the end of every month? No country can progress in this way. It's very unfortunate,” he said.
Some argue that the results of promotion exams only indicate the extent of corruption in the country's civil service.
One of those pushing this claim is Mr Chidibele Eze, a business administrator.
He argued that the root of corruption, which is almost destroying every structure in the country, lies in the civil service.
“You don't have to look deep to see why Nigeria is classified as the poverty capital of the world. Will it become a target?
“Poverty inevitably haunts such countries. Everything our politicians know about corruption they learned from civil servants.
“They were the ones who introduced the famous “5 percent'' in the 1960s that led to Nigeria's first military coup.
“Corruption in the civil service is so bad that it requires urgent intervention. And so that Nigerians know where their problems are coming from and what they should do to tackle them head-on.” , it is good that this kind of test has been conducted and the results have been published,” he told DAILY POST.
Middle Belt Forum MBF Chairman Dr. Pog Bitrus also commented, saying that the cause of the massive failure was the incompetence of civil servants.
In an interview with DAILY POST, he emphasized that the implication is a decrease in productivity as humans cannot give what they do not have.
“This means that unqualified people are filling civil service jobs, which means productivity is very low. The notes are not up to the standard they should be. And of course, The performance of civil servants will also suffer.
“But this is nothing new, as the unnecessary bureaucracy that civil servants clearly exhibit is a function of this kind of performance.
“When you have incompetent people in positions, it's natural that their performance will be substandard, and instead of getting things done right, you're going to introduce unnecessary bureaucracy, which is going to have a negative impact on the whole system,” he said. .
Looking ahead, he stressed the urgent need for training and retraining of civil servants.
“I'm not saying we should fire people, but I'm saying there is a need for training and retraining,” he said.
“It is not enough to have a degree, diploma or a few certificates, people must be trained to reach their full potential in the civil service.
“Therefore, we need to overhaul the civil service system. We need retraining of civil servants, and we need retraining of civil servants so that they know exactly what to do as civil servants.
“Of course, the world is becoming digital. We are no longer analog. Some civil servants are still analog.
“Improving the performance of civil servants requires training and retraining to bring them up to the standards of modern civil servants.”
As for the argument that such poor performance cannot be separated from a recruitment process that relies heavily on quotas and federal character principles, he conceded: It is a flaw, and it is a result of the quota system and the federal personality principle.
“People are hired based on where they come from, what language they speak, and what religion they practice, not on their ability.
“Of course, competency and performance are linked, so it is directly related to the quality of their output. If they are competent, they will perform better.
“We are not saying that quotas should be abolished because there are disadvantaged communities, but what we are saying is that we should not place merit on the altar of quotas or federal character principles. That means we shouldn't sacrifice anything.”
Chairman, Arewa Youth Consultative Forum AYCF, Alhaji Yerima Shettima, commended the commission for conducting the promotion examination as a means of assessing the competency of civil servants.
But he criticized the results as disappointing and showing that most of them were not even eligible for employment.
He said, “First of all, it is good that the Federal Civil Service Commission conducted a promotion examination to at least assess the ability of civil servants seeking promotion.
“But the test results suggest that most civil servants were never even qualified to be hired in the first place. But because our system is so conducive to corruption, many of them end up there. I fell into it.
“That’s why civil servants are even more corrupt than politicians and why I don’t think they are as productive as civil servants in other parts of the world.
“It's unfortunate that most of them weren't qualified to begin with, but they still found their way there.
“So what we have to do in this situation is move beyond the man-knows-man approach in the recruitment process and what some people call 'connections' to encourage and foster competency. That means you need to do it.
“There is nothing wrong with organizing promotion exams for them. In general, this result suggests that the government needs to look inward to find people who are competent and productive enough to deliver.” It clearly shows that there is.
“What this means is that over time we didn't realize that the quality of the civil service was this stupid, but now we know what the civil service is made of. That's it.
“Therefore, I encourage the government to do more by evaluating people based on their abilities and engaging them to achieve better outcomes.”
However, Niger Delta activist Saiga Manager has a different view on this development.
He said the fact that more than 9,000 people did not pass the promotion exam did not mean they were incompetent or unqualified.
He pointed out that those who passed and were likely promoted were those who scored the highest marks to fill the vacancies.
In other words, he explained, there are some people who were able to score above the passing score standard but were not promoted due to lack of positions.
He explained the meaning using his experience during his playing days, saying:
“Normally the pass mark would be 49%, but we had nine people and only two people were needed for two vacancies, so the stakes were raised.
“The person who got the highest score got 72 percent marks. I was second with 62 percent. So, only two of us were promoted to fill the two vacancies.
“There was one person who scored 61 per cent, and there were about three others who scored above 55 per cent, but they couldn’t get promoted because there were only two vacancies.
“I think there were only two people who got below the passing score of 49 percent. But it turned out that because there were only two vacancies, only two people passed and got promoted.
“So at any given time, only two people were promoted, so it looked like the other seven people failed, but in reality, only two people failed.'' I couldn't get promoted because I was assigned to two people.
“The passing mark was 49 per cent, which they exceeded, but they could not be promoted as there were only two vacancies. The same thing could happen in this case.
“Not all of them failed, but because of the limited number of vacancies, even if they were above the passing score, they could not be promoted.”
“I think that's exactly what could happen, but that doesn't mean everyone is smart or that no one made mistakes.
“Some could have failed, but the majority passed. They just couldn't get promoted because there wasn't enough space to accommodate everyone,” he told DAILY POST.
Source: dailypost.ng