Aptitude tests for Cross River ‘political appointees

The governor of Cross River State, Professor Ben Ayade, recently an­nounced the intention of his admin­istration to conduct mandatory in­tegrity and aptitude tests for nominees for political appointments.

According to the Special Assistant on Me­dia and Chief Press Secretary to the Gov­ernor, Mr. Christian Ita, the nominees will undergo the aptitude test before their names will be forwarded to the state House of As­sembly for confirmation. The appointment of chairmen and members of state boards, agencies and parastatals, as well as special advisers, will also follow the same process. Similarly, nominees for appointment as commissioners will also undergo the tests.

The governor’s spokesman explained that the test is coming on the heels of the gover­nor’s belief that every would-be appointee in the state must be subjected to ethical mea­surement to ascertain if they can function in the new order, where accountability and transparency are the watchwords.

To ensure that the test is well conducted, the governor has set up a selection commit­tee headed by Mr. Paul Erokoro to oversee the process. Among members of the commit­tee are Rev. (Mrs.) Grace Ekanem and Chief of Staff to the Governor, Mr. Martin Orim.

While the envisaged test may help the gov­ernor to streamline the selection process of his appointees, we do not think that the writ­ing of tests is the best way to determine the integrity or aptitude of those who have been nominated for public office. Such tests are rather academic and cannot really indicate the honesty or otherwise of any candidate. On the contrary, they can only throw light on the ability of the candidates to communicate effectively in good English, which may not be a critical criterion for some of the appoint­ments. There are other ways to determine the integrity and intellectual capacity of political appointees to deliver on their portfolios other than conducting academic tests.

Ayade, who sought and got the mandate of the people in his state to govern them for the next four years, should be able to identify competent persons that he can work with to move the state forward without subjecting them to academic tests.

He should spare his state this ordeal as such tests can hardly be credible given the political nature of such appointments. The qualifications, work experience and records of service of such nominees should be suffi­cient to assess them. We do not see how a written test can determine the integrity of any person. This is more so as the tests are bound to be set and marked by human be­ings with their different political and social affiliations/sympathies that could influence the assessment of nominees.

Our view is that reviews of nominees’ qualifications, work experience, records of service, background security checks and interviews to determine their vision for the proposed offices should be sufficient to de­termine their suitability for appointment.

While certain academic competences can be determined through competency tests, there is no way integrity tests can actually determine anyone’s integrity level. We say this because integrity has nothing to do with academic excellence or scholastic aptitude. Integrity has more to do with the individual’s moral principles than academic attainment. Besides, academic ability is quite different from leadership capability. Although acqui­sition of knowledge, especially higher educa­tion, can be helpful in leadership, many good leaders in the world are not topflight acade­micians or men of letters.

Sections 192 and 197 of the 1999 Constitu­tion of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) are very clear on appointment of commissioners and members of boards of government agencies. Such appointments do not require any tests whatsoever.

Let Governor Ayade muster sufficient po­litical will and select his commissioners, spe­cial advisers and other members of his team without wasting time and state resources to conduct nebulous and controversial tests. His administration can still be transparent and accountable without subjecting his ap­pointees to the unnecessary distraction of a test, whether for competence or integrity.

Already, the governor has appointed some persons who did not take any tests before they resumed work. Will it not be immoral to organise tests for some categories of appoin­tees and not for others? This will amount to a contradiction and an unjustifiable double-standard.

In any case, did the governor himself take any written test before he was elected to administer the state? Since those who go to equity must go with clean hands, we advise Governor Ayade to jettison this contentious idea before public confidence in his adminis­tration starts to wane. A new governor com­ing from the academic community ought to come with brilliant and pragmatic ideas on how best to govern and move the state forward. The conduct of aptitude tests for would-be political appointees is definitely not one of such ideas, no matter the gover­nor’s avowed best intentions. Let him find other credible and acceptable methods of making his political appointments without subjecting nominees to public ridicule and odium.