The Chairman, Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC), Prof. Tunji Olaopa, has said that the commission is deploying technology to modernise its operations and strengthen merit-driven processes.
Olaopa said this during an interview with ournalists on the sideline of the commission’s Strategic Plan Stakeholders Validation Workshop in Abuja yesterday.
He said the move was part of efforts to reposition the commission for efficiency, transparency, and accountability.
According to him, before now, merit was applied by common sense, but from HR professionalism, merit has strong instruments, tools and indicators.
“So we are developing guidelines and strategies to protect merit in a structured way.
”We are also ensuring that the application of federal character complies with merit. Where cut-off points for some states are too low, we will encourage measures that will help them compete better,” Olaopa said
The chairman also said the commission had moved its recruitment processes online to eliminate manual applications.
”What we doing is that, we are moving from manual system where people have to come from Calabar to Abuja to collect forms for recruitment. Now, all our recruitment is been done through the recruitment portal.
“In the past, everybody came from various part of the country, but today, we are deploying technology to modernise all of our outdated processes, ” he said.
According to him, the 2025 promotion examination for civil servants will be conducted through computer-based tests.
”This makes the process more transparent and accountable. We are also re-engineering the commission’s secretariat, beefing up competencies and professionalism.”
Olaopa further said that the commission was addressing staff-related issues, including capacity building and retention.
“We must find ways of retaining staff after investing in their training, possibly through improved incentives to make the commission attractive to professionals,” he said.
He added that the commission was working to revive its planning, research and statistics department to build a functional database as well as strengthen international engagements.
On the motivation for the strategic plan, Olaopa said it followed consultations with stakeholders adding that it aimed at consolidating earlier reforms.
”When we were inaugurated in December 2023, we developed a repositioning plan which was approved by the President with funds for implementation.
”What we are doing now is deepening, consolidating and addressing gaps through a rigorous, research-based stakeholder process,” he said.