….begs Registrar for a reschedule due to hard times
…..Council not under obligations to foot their bills-Registrar
Uneasy calm has beclouded the National headquarters of the National Examinations Council (NECO), Minna Niger state as members of staff bemoans the management’s insistence that all staff coming for the promotion examination from across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja foots their accommodation and transportation bills to and fro.
This is coming as the Registrar/Chief Executive Officer of NECO Professor Ibrahim Dantani Wushishi has maintained his stance that the Council will not be lenient or liverage staff coming for promotion exams from across the 774 Local Government Areas and FCT, Abuja.
The disquit causing many of the staff sleepless nights is in reaction to the circular dated, 9th January, 2014 detailing when the promotion examinations will be commencing and making it mandatory for all NECO outstation staff to be physically present.
Findings indicated that most staff had expressed concerns over the harsh economic realities, insecurity bedevilling parts of the country with reports of kidnapping on a daily basis and the risks travelling along bad Nigerian roads and therefore expects that the management change the date or even to decentralization the examinations.
The circular in parts reads, “I am directed to inform all staff that the Registrar/Chief Executive has approved that the 2024 staff Promotion Examination holds; and staff would be expected to bear the cost of their transportation and accommodation”.
Signed by, Mrs Folake B. Eweje, the Director of Human Resource Management, the contents of the documents has however caused uneasy calm at the NECO headquarters along the Minna-Bida road as many of the workers are seen in clusters discussing what could befell their colleagues who may not be able to travel to Minna due to one reason or the other.
Some staff who spoke on the condition of anonymity expressed sadnesss that the Registrar is not considering the difficulties many homes are facing and evolve alternative means of conducting the promotion exams or to apply some of its technological advancement where possibe instead of subjecting them to risks of accidents, extra cost and security threats.
“We were all shocked by the circular we never expected that, at least not with the worst economic situation. It is not that we are afraid of the examinations, but we thought it should be at zonal or states level, why now expecting us to travel all the way to Minna after the Christmas and New Year festivities”.
They also recalled how some of their colleagues travelling for similar events in the past either lost their lives or sustained life treatning injuries which they are still nursing till date, the pains and agony suffered on the course of travelling along the deplorable Nigerian roads.
The staff also lamented that many parents are still battling to pay school fees for their children, some have not even been able to pay and now where do they expect us to get money for the trip? The staff lamented as he pleaded with the Registrar and the entire management to be consider their plight and reschedule the examinations.
Another employee serving in one of the northern states said, “As civil servants, we already face various financial challenges within this januaray alone, imposing another expense for our own promotion exams only adds to our financial burdens. It is as if we are being asked to pay for the opportunity to advance in our careers”.
They lamented that the circular coming this time when Nigerians are already overstretched financially contradicts established civil service norms whereby promotions were traditionally carried out based on merits and performances of individual staff rather than financial capacity which the compulsory assembly at the NECO headquarters indirectly portends.
Meanwhile, reacting to the developments, the Registrar/Chief Executive Officer of NECO, Professor Dantani Ibrahim Wushishi, said bringing staff to write the promotion examinations at the Council’s headquarter in Minna was not a new thing.
Professor Wushishi said there was no provision by law to shoulder the financial costs of staff coming to write their promotion examination and that writing such examinations at the council headquarters was not a new development.
To justify his stance, the Registrar also argued that even with prevailing security challenges, including kidnapping staff were being sent to all the 774 Local Government Areas across Nigeria to conduct national examinations and they never complained about insecurity.
“This is not the first time members of staff are invited to come to our headquarters in Minna to write promotion examination. They are collecting salaries. It is not duty-bound on the Council to bear the transportation cost for them to come and write the exams”.
Public service regulations didn’t state that promotion exams should be for some states against the generality of others, insisting that, “It is not unusual practice. Recently we recruited over 200 new staff across Nigeria and they all came down to Minna, headquarters for documentation and they didn’t complain”.
“When you talk of insecurity, I want to tell you that we sent over 3,000 staff to the 774 LGAs, including areas affected by insecurity to conduct NECO examinations and they never complained of insecurity for once. For our national examinations, we pay all our staff their DTAs to make them comfortable to do their jobs in their respective places of engagement”.
The Registrar who said the promotion examinations have been part of the system insists that, “It is not the responsibility of the management to bear the cost of staff coming to write promotion examinations. Insecurity is not an excuse because it has been the practice”.
Chinwendu Nnadozie is a correspondent with Independent Newspapers.