By SALISU SANI-IDRIS

The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has interviewed 666 candidates due for promotion to the rank of directors in the administration’s civil service in 18 different cadres.

The Director, Information and Communication, FCT, Mr Muhammad Sule, made the disclosure in a statement on Thursday in Abuja.

Sule explained that the affected candidates, who are all Deputy Directors and had been due for promotion since 2021, had undergone screening, written examination, and oral interview to ascertain their suitability for the position of director.

He said that the various positions, which the candidates were expected to fill, include Administrative Officer, Account Officer, and Commercial Officer.

Others are Social Welfare Officer, Engineering and Education Officer, among others.

According to him, the exercise, which took place at the FCT Archives and History Bureau in December 2021, saw a total number of 731 officers participating.

The director, however, said that after the screening, the committee discovered that a number of them were ineligible to participate in further processes.

He said after thorough screening, the 666 successful candidates were sent to the Public Service Institute of Nigeria for pre-training to acquire knowledge on better ways of handling administrative responsibilities in the FCT and for the examination.

Speaking on the development, the FCT Director of Human Resource Management, Muhammad Bashir said the department undertook the processes to ensure that equity, justice, and fairness took precedence in all its affairs.

Bashir explained that all the candidates due for the promotion were invited and subjected to all the processes adding, “equal opportunity was given to all qualified candidates”.

According to him, the FCT Administration has taken all these steps to ascertain that all the in-house trainings undergone by the officers in the past are properly assimilated.

Bashir commended the FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Bello and FCT Permanent Secretary, Adesola Olusade, for their guidance and approval.

He said the affected officers proceeded on training at the Public Service Institute of Nigeria, and other trainings aimed at boosting capacity of the FCTA staff to effectively discharge their responsibilities.

Bashir said the results of the 666 candidates that participated in the process were expected to be presented to the FCT Administration for further consideration. (NAN)

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