Mrs Winifred Oyo-Ita, the Head of Civil Service of the Federation (HoS), has inaugurated a 80-seater Computer Based Test (CBT) centre, donated to Public Service Institute of Nigeria (PSIN) by the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF).
The ACBF made the donation under the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Africa Capacity Building grant.
Performing the inauguration at the PSIN, Abuja, Oyo-Ita, said that the centre would boost efforts by the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation to achieve a digital civil service.
She said that the ACBF’s gesture was commendable, adding that she was hopeful that the partnership would continue to a level, where PSIN would become the foremost capacity building institute for public servants.
“May I, on behalf of President Muhammadu Buhari, express my sincere appreciation to ACBF for their interest in the Nigerian Public Service.
“Building the capacity of the Public Service Institute of Nigeria will go a long way to helping in the actualisation of the Strategic Plan of the Office of Head of Civil Service of the Federation (OHSCF), being the capacity building arms.
“The OHSCF is desirous to ensure that all public officers imbibe Efficient, Productive Incorruptible and Citizen Centred Culture (EPIC) skills.
“The partnership is timely and my office will always identify with the partnership that works, ‘’ she said.
In his speech, Prof. Emmanuel Nnadozie , Executive Secretary, ACBF, said that the foundation was focused on building capacity, promoting institutions and boosting capacities in the country.
Nnadozie said that Nigerian government had donated generously to ACBF and was the biggest contributor to the foundation.
He said that over the years, ACBF had made 20 million dollars investment in Nigeria.
The ACBF boss said that the foundation’s investment in Nigeria spanned across creating centres of excellence in science and technology in Nigerian universities, enhancing governance and economic management among others.
Oh his part, Dr Abdul-Ganiyu Obatoyinbo, Administrator, PSIN, lauded ACBF for the donation.
He said that the 80-seater centre would among other things; shorten the time frame used in conducting computer based tests.
“With this facility, about 200 candidates can now sit for CBT at once in the institute; this will lead to more transparency and enhanced integrity of our examination process.
“The ACBF CBT centre will use this opportunity to call on entire public servants and institutions to make utmost use of the centre to ensure adequate computer training, transparency in their recruitment and promotion exercises.
“ACBF is helping to reposition the institute to achieve the mandate bestowed on it. ACBF is also funding the development of process and procedures of the institute, monitoring and evaluation and capacity building of staff in identified areas of need,’’ he said.
Obatoyinbo urged the ACBF chief to look into other areas in the institute that would be discussed during the mission of ACBF’s officers soon.
He listed the areas as improvement in the PSIN’s website, development of modules for various training programmes of public officers in leadership development, ICT entrepreneurship, private- public partnership among others. (NAN)
