Over 2000 civil servants in Bauchi state commenced a 2-day Sensitisation workshop on Tuesday, leading to the conduct of their promotion examination to the next level.
The workshop is taking place at the Multipurpose Indoor Sports Hall in Bauchi and was declared open by the State Head of Civil Service, Alh Yahuza Haruna Adamu.
While declaring the workshop open, the Head of Service expressed happiness because of the huge success recorded in the 2022 edition of the examination, which had about a 90% pass rate.
He added, “I am also happy that our dream of conducting this workshop, which is a prelude to the 2023 Batch ‘A’ examination, is coming to reality despite the short time frame between the 2022 examination held in October last year.”
According to him, “This feat is attributed to His Excellency’s commitment to ensuring the success of the promotion examination policy, and indeed, the overall staff welfare and human capital development.”
The HoS added, “He has done this by the prompt release of the needed funds for the exercise despite the various competing demands from other sectors. Let me, therefore, seize this opportunity to express my gratitude to His Excellency on behalf of the state workers.”
He stated, “I am standing before you with a gratified heart to address you on this important occasion of the opening ceremony of the sensitisation workshop for the first batch of the 2023 civil service promotion examination, which will Insha Allah be conducted in two batches.”
He said, “During the first half of the year and the second half of the year. With the split of the examination into two batches, I am pleased to say that the anomalies that led to the conduct of the examination once a year previously are being rectified.”
“To you, the workers, I wish to urge you to reciprocate the innumerable government gestures such as this, and the recent renovations carried out in all the 20 local government Secretariats across the state, Abubakar Umar Secretariat here in Bauchi and the 22 new vehicles given to the newly appointed Permanent Secretaries to ease their work, by being loyal and dedicated to your duties because, to whom much is given, to him much is expected,” he stressed.
Yahuza Haruna stated, “The beauty of this policy is that the examination has become a point of our capacity enhancement strategies whereby those preparing for the examination have to read widely and digest our civil service books of instructions, general knowledge, and professional fields.”
He stressed, “Through this, the candidates widen their horizons and become better informed and knowledgeable in civil service matters. This will surely raise their performance and productivity.”
The HoS assured, “Our resource persons are experienced officers who have both the practical and theoretical knowledge to impart to you, and the consultant too, Messrs Dugge Management Services, has been our sole consultant handling the promotion examinations since 2016. I assure you that your papers will be objectively marked and the result will be released in good time.”
Earlier in his remarks, Mohammed Sani Umar Esq, Permanent Secretary, Establishments and ServiCom Matters Bureau, Office of the Head of Civil Service explained that the Objectives of this policy are to allow the service to shift from the former obsolete policy of using only maturity and seniority as the basis for the determination of officers’ suitability for promotion to a more dynamic and rewarding policy.
The Permanent Secretary added that the new policy has a comparative advantage over the old one, saying that, “One obvious advantage is that promotion examination will encourage competition, stimulate a reading habit, and ensure officers realize their potentials and develop the same.”
He also expressed happiness because of the success recorded in the 2022 edition of the examination, where it recorded a 90% pass rate, saying, “I am also happy that our dream of conducting this workshop, which is a prelude to 2023 first batch civil service promotion examination, is a reality.”
According to him, “The success recorded so far is attributed to His Excellency Alhaji Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed Kauran Bauchi’s commitment to ensuring the success of the promotion examination policy. He has funded the exercise despite the serious competing demands from other sectors.”
“Let me, therefore, seize this opportunity to express our sincere gratitude to His Excellency, the Governor. To you, the participants, I urge you to reciprocate by being loyal and dedicated to your duties,” Sani Umar said.
He further stated that “You will recall that His Excellency has approved the splitting of the examination into two batches for easy management and to allow those who missed the first batch to be captured in the second batch. This was achieved because of the concern the Head of Civil Service has for the civil servant.”