• Civil Service Commission clears backlog, promises yearly exercise from 2027

About 10,700 civil servants in the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) have begun the 2026 promotion examination.

The exercise is expected to continue until next week across designated centres in Abuja.

The promotion examination, organised by the FCT Civil Service Commission (CSC), is aimed at ensuring that eligible workers are promoted as and when due, while clearing outstanding promotion backlogs accumulated since the commission became operational in 2024. The commission’s chairman, Emeka Ezeh, who monitored the exercise, said the CSC had cleared all outstanding promotion backlogs.

He said the development would enable the commission to conduct only the corresponding annual promotion as from 2027.

“About 10,700 of them are going to have the exam that started today. It’s going to run throughout this week up to next week. We believe that at the end of the exercise, those who are successful will be promoted,” Ezeh said.

According to him, the exercise is in line with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda for the civil service and the directive of FCT Minister Nyesom Wike that workers should be promoted when due.

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Ezeh noted that clearing promotion backlogs had been a major priority of the commission since it was established.

“So far in 2026, the commission has cleared all the backlogs of all the outstanding promotions, so that by 2027, we’ll be conducting only the 2027 promotion exercise,” he said.

Ezeh said lessons from the previous promotion examinations had helped the CSC improve the current exercise.

The commission’s chairman said measures had been introduced to reduce delays, overcrowding, and technical glitches.

The measures put in place included early commencement of the examination, provision of generators instead of relying solely on Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) power supply and a first-come, first-served system for issuing examination cards.

“With each outing, we learn from the mistakes of the previous one. Part of what we have learned is that we needed to start on time and be sure we are on generator rather than being on AEDC so that the issue of glitches will not arise,” he said.

Ezeh added that early arrivals were allowed to write their examinations and leave, creating a steady flow of candidates at the centres.

The commission’s chairman cautioned candidates against assuming that meeting the minimum examination score automatically guarantees promotion.

He explained that promotion was subject to three major conditions: maturity on the current post, attainment of the prescribed minimum score and availability of vacancies.

Officers below Level 14, from Level 7, must have spent at least three years on their current posts, while officers on the directorate cadre, from Assistant Director upwards, must have spent at least four years.

The CSC chairman said candidates must also have no disciplinary cases against them.

“The Public Service Rule and our guideline for appointment for promotion say that promotion shall be based on merit only,” Ezeh said.

He added that where, for instance, there were three vacancies and 10 qualified candidates, only the three highest-scoring candidates would be promoted.

Ezeh stressed that candidates who attained the minimum cut-off but fell outside the available vacancies would not necessarily be regarded as having failed.

“It does not mean that others did not pass; they met the minimum cut-off mark, but there are others who performed better than them. So we choose the best among those who are successful,” he said.

The FCT/FCDA chapter of the Joint Union Action Congress (JUAC), which monitored the exercise, hailed the commission for the improvements recorded in the organisation of the examination.

JUAC Secretary Abdullahi Umar Saleh said the union’s monitoring team noticed better arrangements compared with the previous exercises.

The FCTA Department of Security Services also confirmed tight security arrangements for the exercise. (The Nation)