BENIN CITY: Edo State Governor Mr. Godwin Obaseki said as part of the strategy to strengthen the Civil Service for effective service delivery his administration has embarked on promotion examination for top civil servant in the state to discover those who are qualified and have the required knowledge in certain areas to fill several vacant position in the service.
He made this known yesterday while speaking to newsmen at Imaguero College during his visits to the venue where top civil servant are writing the promotion examination.
Obaseki said the exercise is in good faith as civil servants need not to fear as the promotion examination is necessary for their promotion to fill the available vacant positions as directors in the State Civil Service.
He said what the top civil servants are going through is promotion examination not competency test as alleged in some quarters as they are already competent before they were employed in the service. “Before promotions are made civil servants need to goes through promotion examination not competency test as they are already competent that was why they are working in the service”.
The governor said the examination earlier conducted for level 16 and 17 officers in the state is an eye opener as some civil servants were discovered to be very good and they were used to fill the vacancies as Permanent Secretaries in the State Civil Service. He said the examination will help the administration understand the kind of training and competency needed to build the civil service.
“We are not sacking anybody, but want to strengthen the service so that they can deliver good and efficient services to the state. The examination is not compulsory but necessary for promotion as those who needed to be promoted has to write the examination. If you fail to do the test, then there are no bases to promote you”.
For teachers who kicked against the examination, the governor said it is unfortunate as his administration don’t want to exclude the teaching corps as two teachers performed well in the last exercise and they have been made Permanent Secretary in the state civil service. “We want to give everyone the opportunity to participate but if the teachers says they don’t want to be part of the process, no one will force them but will not have the bases to promote the senior colleagues amongst them to fill already existing vacancies in the service” Obaseki concluded.
