19 Directors Fail Permanent Secretary Examination

Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja

Nineteen Directors have failed the Permanent Secretary written examinations conducted in Abuja on Monday.

They were among the 38 eligible candidates that sat for the three- stage selection process to fill the vacancies for the retiring permanent secretaries from Abia, Bayelsa, Ebonyi, Enugu, Gombe, Kaduna, Kebbi and Rivers States.

The Head, Information and Public Relations, Office of Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs Eno Olotu, said in a statement Tuesday that the 19 candidates still in the race will on Wednesday proceed for the second stage of the exercise that will test their competence in the use of Information Communication and Technology (ICT) in conducting government business.

The Office of the Head of Service of the Federation usually follows an established tradition of carrying out a rigorous three-stage exercise that ensures that only the very best among the directors on Grade Level 17 are appointed permanent secretaries and equipped with appropriate and relevant skills to improve and sustain effective delivery of services.

The statement further stated that the successful candidates would then proceed to the final stage, where they would be grilled by a carefully constituted panel of top bureaucrats and representatives of the organised private sector, on Friday, November, 15.

Olotu extended the goodwill of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs Esther Didi Walson-Jack to all the 38 candidates and appreciated the continued support of the Nigerian public in entrenching meritocracy in career progression in the Civil Service.