FG planning more ICT training for workers – Walson-Jack

Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HCSF), Mrs Didi Walson-Jack, says the Federal Government is planning to engage workers in more training on Information and Communication

By Okon Okon

Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HCSF), Mrs Didi Walson-Jack, says the Federal Government is planning to engage workers in more training on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) programmes.

Walson-Jack disclosed this on Wednesday in Abuja while supervising the Senior Confirmation and Promotion (Compro) Examinations for workers across para-military and agencies at various centres within the Federal Capital Territory.

She said that the initiative was to enable public servants gain more experience in the area of technology, as the public service sector was gradually changing to meet global standards of operations.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Computer Based Test (CBT), currently being conducted nationwide, has a total of 13,993 people participating.

“So, we are coming up with lots of training on ICT which we believe will help workers as we go along with the CBT exercise.

“You will recall that these exams used to be a written one but recently, we made it computer based.

“And so it’s expected that as we go along, it will encourage public/civil servants to begin to take IT and digitalisation very seriously because the test is computer based and they need to have IT knowledge to be able to pass it, ” she said.

According to her, digitilisation is one of the pillars under the Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan (FCSSIP-25) to reform the sector.

This, Walson-Jack said, could only be achieved through ICT which required civil servants to key into it.

“You know that under the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan (FCSSIP-25), digitalisation is one of the pillars of the reforms and so, we have moved from a written test to a computer based test,” she said.

The HCSF, however, used the medium to acknowledge Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) for doing excellent job to ensure peaceful conduct of the exercise.

“I will like to use this opportunity to appreciate JAMB which is our partners in conducting this examination, and we are looking forward to having a seamless exercise in subsequent exams,” she said.

Similarly, Mrs Fatima Mahmood, Permanent Secretary, Career Management Office, office of the HCSF, acknowledged the officials who conducted the exams in spite of some technical challenges.

“There may have been few technical hitches during the conduct of the exams, but how you manage the process is what counts and I can see excellent management here; the candidates were attended to promptly.

“Everybody is behaving in an orderly manner, as expected of the public service officers of the nation. In all, I think the process is going on smoothly,’’ she said.

One of the candidates, Mr Hasan Abubakar, who expressed excitement over the exercise, said he was forced to learn computer when he knew that it was no more written exams.

“When I got the job, I never knew anything about computer, but I have to force myself to learn it and I must confess that it has helped me a lot. So I’m excited,” he said. (NAN)