Mary sat for the examination and after some time, she got an email inviting her for an oral interview. Afterwards, she got another email informing her that she had been offered the job.
By Arinze Chijioke
“Nigeria Go better,” pidgin English translation for “Nigeria will be Great,” was the title of a sermon preached by Pastor Johnson (not his real name) one Sunday after his daughter, who had no connection or knew anyone in government, was employed into the Delta State education service.
The year was 2019. The Delta State Government announced the recruitment of teachers who will be posted across secondary schools in the state. Johnson’s daughter was one of the applicants for the job.
On the day slated for the examination, Johnson told his daughter Mary (not her real name) that she was only going to waste her time as nothing good would come out of it. He thought it was going to be business as usual, where merit is often not enough to secure a job.
Mary sat for the examination and after some time, she got an email inviting her for an oral interview. Afterwards, she got another email informing her that she had been offered the job.
When she got home with her appointment letter, her father could not believe his eyes. Mary was only one of over 1,000 people who got jobs in the teaching service in 2019 without any backing or connection. It was purely based on performance and merit.
And the man who made it happen was Edozie Godwin.
In 2015, Godwin went on leave of absence from the Federal College of Education Technology, Asaba, where he worked as a senior lecturer after he was appointed Special Adviser to the Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education in Delta State, Chiedu Ebie.
Four years later, in 2019, he was appointed Senior Special Assistant on Education to the Governor of Delta State, Ifeanyi Okowa, a position he held for another four years. In the same year, he was drafted into a team in charge of recruiting teachers for secondary schools. He has also assisted in recruiting agricultural officers into the state civil service.
A Transparent Process
The recruitment was advertised online and interested applicants were given the timeframe to apply and upload relevant documents. On the day of the exam, which was a Computer Based Test (CBT), they underwent biodata verification to curb impersonation and ensure information accuracy.
After the examination, applicants saw their scores before they left the hall; it was also printed for them. Afterwards, oral interviews were conducted for candidates who passed the exam stage.
On the day of the interview, which was held at the Government House, another biodata verification was done to ensure that those invited were the actual people who passed the test. Three professionals in each of the subjects interviewed applicants and rated them individually.
“Before they got in, they presented their letters of invitation, which had their photographs, to security men at the gate to avoid cases of impersonation,” Godwin, who had worked as a civil servant since 1991, said.
According to him, the consultants who managed the application were different from the ones who managed the CBT. Those who collected the results at the end of the exercises were different too. This was to avoid compromise.
“We sent messages and emails to keep them informed about updates,” Godwin said. “Cut-off point of 70% for CBT and 30% for the interview was used to determine qualified candidates that were selected for the job.”
Changing The Status Quo
The recruitment process was not based on allocations to local governments but purely on merit and this meant that some of them had over 50 people employed while others had only ten or fewer people given jobs.
“We also got teachers posted to rural areas to sign undertakings that they will work in those areas for five years before they are transferred, he said. “They did and now they are due for transfer to other locations,” Godwin noted.
Before Godwin’s involvement in the process of recruitment, findings by this reporter showed that politicians used to have automatic slots for employment. When he came on board and introduced measures that made the process merit-based, they became uncomfortable.
“But we had the political backing of the governor, who was committed to transforming the education sector in the state,” he said. “We were invited by the house committee on education, who wanted to understand the process.”
Godwin said that he made sure that no applicant could bribe any member of the recruitment team. He adds that efforts were made to ensure that people with disabilities and others who had difficulties writing the exam were taken care of.
“We did 90% purely on merit during the recruitment process and we reserved 10% for people who had difficulties during the exam or interview,” he said.
He said the team also employed a master’s degree holder in English who was visually impaired and could not see the screen of the computer during the CBT exam but did well during the oral interview.
After the expiration of Okowa’s tenure in 2023, Godwin went back to the classroom. But barely a year after he resumed, he was appointed again to serve as Senior Aide to the Chairman of the governing board of the Niger Delta Commission (NDDC), a testament to his proven integrity. He has now proceeded on another leave of absence.
Godwin’s integrity has earned him awards, nominations, and commendations. He says these recognitions only serve to encourage him to keep doing the good work.
Like Godwin, public servants must be determined to ensure that they always uphold integrity in the discharge of their responsibilities regardless of the opposition they face from colleagues.
This report is championed by Accountability Lab Nigeria and sponsored by The John D. and Catherine D. MacArthur Foundation and Luminate.