A’Ibom Gov Vows To Raise Standard Of State Workforce For Higher Productivity

By Bassey Nkponam 
UYO 
The Akwa Ibom governor has vowed to raise the standard of the state’s workforce for higher productivity. 
Pastor Umo Eno made the vow, Friday, while fielding questions from Government House correspondents shortly after inspecting the state-of-the-art Computer-Based Test (CBT) Centre at the Civil Service Auditorium, Idongesit Nkanga Secretariat, Uyo, set up ahead of the forthcoming civil service recruitment by the State government, as part of efforts to upgrade the quality of workers into the state civil service for enhanced productivity and standards.
   Eno emphasised that the standard of Akwa Ibom civil service must be consciously stepped up to meet the challenges of the 21st century, as the civil service is the engine room of governance.
According to him, “if we don’t get the civil service right, we would never get governance right”, as the quality of staff recruited into the civil service matters a lot in the 21st century,” noting that people, the world over, have moved to Artificial Intelligence (AI), hence, the need for the recruitment of qualified and capable hands that would stand the test of time in service delivery.
The governor said there was need for the presence of people who, at least, understand basic computer services and are confident in what they do, adding that the introduction of the CBT approach in the state’s recruitment process will considerably eliminate the issue of god fatherism in the system for competence to lead, while also enabling applicants to seriously and effectively prepare for absorption into the civil service system.
“We need to be practical about it; eliminate all manner of encumbrances so that applicants will prepare effectively for the examination. And, if they perform well, they would be taken. And if they fail, they can prepare well to write it next time,” he explained.
The commissioner for Science and Digital Economy, Dr Frank Ekpenyong, lauded Governor Eno for his exceptional vision and passion to ensure merit, competence and confidence in the state civil service for efficiency in service delivery.
Ekpenyong explained that the CBT centre was capable of accommodating upwards of 400 applicants at a time, and about 2,000 applicants for a day scheduled in batches.
The head of the Civil Service, Elder Effiong Essien, thanked the governor for introducing dynamism in the service, and assured the applicants that the CBT facilities and processes were within their knowledge and capability, enjoining them to be prepared for simple evaluation test through the computers which will take place in the next 10 days.