Chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC), Prof. Tunji Olaopa, has disclosed that civil servants involved in malpractices in the 2024 promotional examinations have been handed over to the Department of State Security (DSS) for prosecution.

According to him, this is part of measures to sanitise the civil service and ensure the enthronement of meritocracy.The Professor of Public Administration and former Federal Permanent Secretary spoke yesterday in Nasarawa State while declaring open a training programme for senior personnel of the FCSC.

He decried a situation where what existed in the civil service before his chairmanship was a culture of “cash and carry”, whereby recruitment and passing of promotional examinations were dependent on how much civil servants could pay.

His words: “It must have been a culture shock to many candidates who sat for the 2024 promotional exercise and were involved in some malpractices that they were handed over to the Department of State Security (DSS) for prosecution. Indeed, the cases of candidates who got proxies to sit for them have equally been referred. It is, therefore, becoming clear to all and sundry that the era of ‘cash and carry’ recruitment and promotion in the federal civil service is over, as no one involved in such corrupt practices will be spared.”

According to him, the second level in the implementation of the commission’s Repositioning Plan entails the computerisation and digitisation of its core functions and activities.

He added: “Consequently, the ongoing recruitment exercise was advertised with applications received via our recruitment portal. We are taking this further through entry-level assessment, which will be conducted via computer-based tests (CBT), which will be held at 15 centres and state capitals around the country. The release of results and shortlisting of candidates will be fully transparent.”