No fewer than 305 directors have failed the written examination for appointment into the offices of permanent secretaries of the Federal Civil Service

No fewer than 305 directors have failed the written examination for appointment into the offices of permanent secretaries of the Federal Civil Service in the last four years, The Saturday PUNCH investigation and the SOUTHERN POST has shown.

Recall that no fewer than 9,000 civil servants who sat the 2022 FCS Promotion examinations failed, according to a list issued by the FCS Commission on November 30, 2023.

No fewer than 13,000 civil servants sat the 2022 examination, which was held in about 69 Computer Based Test centres across the country, while the candidates were drawn from the core civil service, the Nigeria Police, and other para-military and specialised agencies.

The letter, tagged FC.6241/S.35/Vol.xi/ T12/268, was signed by the Director of Promotions, Sani Bello, and addressed to the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation.

A list attached to the letter noted that only 3,851 civil servants out of the over 13,000 civil servants who sat the promotion examination passed.

In the list, it was stated that 139 officers were promoted from the post of Assistant Chief Administrative Officer to Chief Administrative Officer.

A total of 191 were also promoted to the post of Assistant Chief Administrative Officer from the role of Principal Administrative Officer, just as a total of 313 civil servants were promoted from the role of Senior Administrative Officer to Principal Administrative Officer, while a total of 191 were promoted to Senior Administrative Officer from the role of Administrative Officer 1 among others.

However, an investigation by Saturday PUNCH and THE SOUTHERN POST showed that no fewer than 305 directors out of 664 have so far failed the qualifying examinations of the FCS between 2020 and 2024.

In September 2020, no fewer than nine directors in the FCS failed the first stage of a re-sit promotional exam as only 14 were shortlisted for a second round of the test out of the 23 directors who took the exam.

Similarly, in June 2021, another 21 directors on Salary Grade Level 17 in the FCS, who sat a written exam as part of the process of appointing them as permanent secretaries, also failed the examination.

The 21 directors were among 46 senior officers, who took the examination in Abuja on Monday, May 31, 2021.

The remaining 25 of them, who passed the examination, made it to the next stage, which was the Information Communication Technology proficiency test which was held on Thursday, June 03, 2021

ever, in February 2022, another 37 directors failed the FCS qualifying examination organised to fill vacant positions of permanent secretaries declared by the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation.

A total of 74 directors had sat for the examination, but only 37 of them scored 50 per cent and above while the other 37 scored below 50 per cent, which amounted to failure.