The FCT Civil Service Commission has cleared its backlog of outstanding promotion exercises, paving the way for the Federal Capital Territory Administration to return to annual promotion examinations from 2027.
Chairman of the Commission, Emeka Ezeh, disclosed this on Monday while monitoring the 2026 promotion examination being taken by about 10,700 civil servants across designated centres in Abuja.
Ezeh said the current exercise, which will run through next week, would be the final one involving outstanding promotions inherited since the Commission became operational in 2024.
“About 10,700 of them are going to have the exam that started today. It’s going to run throughout this week up to next week, and we believe that at the end of the exercise, those who are successful will be promoted,” Ezeh said.
He said the clearance was in line with President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope agenda for the civil service and the directive of the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, that civil servants should be promoted when due.
“In 2026, the Commission has cleared all the backlogs of all the outstanding promotions, so that by 2027, we’ll be conducting only the 2027 promotion exercise,” he said.
Ezeh attributed the improved organisation of the examination to lessons learnt from previous exercises, saying the Commission had introduced measures to reduce delays, overcrowding and technical disruptions.
He said the measures included starting the examination early, using generators instead of relying solely on electricity from AEDC and issuing examination cards on a first-come, first-served basis.
“With each outing, we learn from the mistakes of the previous one. Part of what we have learned is that we needed to start on time and be sure we are on generator rather than being on AEDC so that the issue of glitches will not arise,” he explained.
He said candidates who arrived early were allowed to write their examinations and leave, creating a continuous flow of participants through the centres.
The Commission chairman cautioned candidates against assuming that meeting the minimum examination score automatically guarantees promotion.
He said promotion was subject to three conditions: maturity on the current post, attainment of the prescribed minimum score and availability of vacancies.
According to him, officers from Level 7 to Level 13 must have spent at least three years on their current posts, while officers on the Directorate cadre, from Assistant Director upwards, must have spent at least four years.
“The Public Service Rule and our guideline for appointment for promotion says that promotion shall be based on merit only,” Ezeh said.
He illustrated the principle with a hypothetical example, saying that where there were three vacancies and 10 qualified candidates, only the three highest-scoring candidates would be promoted.
“If somebody scored 90, another 85, another 80, and then somebody scored 75, 65, 70, only the 90, 85 and 80 will be promoted in that ranking order.”
He stressed that candidates who attained the minimum cut-off but ranked outside the available vacancies should not necessarily consider themselves unsuccessful.
“It does not mean that others did not pass; they met the minimum cut-off mark, but there are others who performed better than them. So we choose the best among those who are successful,” Ezeh said.
Meanwhile, the Joint Union Action Congress, JUAC, FCT/FCDA, which monitored the exercise, commended the Commission for improvements in the organisation of the examination.
JUAC Secretary, Comrade Abdullahi Saleh, said the union’s monitoring team observed better arrangements compared with the previous exercise, particularly in ventilation, lighting and crowd control.
“There is a great improvement compared to the previous one. The venue was not overpopulated, and there is actually proper ventilation. I can see fans all over. There are well-lit points everywhere; it is looking bright,” Saleh said.
Saleh said JUAC recognised that existing public service rules made promotion subject to available vacancies but noted that teachers had been seeking special consideration because of the essential nature of their profession.
“Teachers claim that they are professionals and they need to be given preferential treatment, that FCTA or Civil Service Commission should look into their case and see how they can waive vacancy arrangement for them because they are giving essential services of impacting knowledge to the populace,” he said.
He said discussions were ongoing between the FCT Administration, the minister and the unions on the matter, adding that Wike had directed the parties to maintain the status quo pending further deliberations.
Saleh expressed optimism that the process would eventually produce a favourable outcome for participants.
“We believe that subsequently there will be greater improvement even more than this. JUAC expects that, all things being equal, by the end of this examination period, every applicant who wrote the exam will go home smiling.”
Some participants, including Temitope Kayode and Adama Zakari of the Abuja Infrastructure Investment Centre, also commended the Commission for the orderly conduct of the examination.
The 2026 exercise is expected to continue through next week, with the Commission aiming to conclude the backlog and return the FCT public service to a regular annual promotion cycle from 2027.
