The Edo State Government has conducted aptitude test for applicants seeking to join the ranks of the Edo State Traffic Management Agency (EDSTMA), which is being expanded to strengthen its operations.

The test was organised by EDSTMA for applicants polled from the Edojobs portal, the state’s skills development and job creation platform, at the Imaguero College Hall, in Benin City on Saturday.

The state government had advertised 250 job openings in the agency to boost efforts at traffic management and restore sanity to roads in Benin metropolis and its environs.

The Managing Director of EDSTMA, Oloriegbe Dennis Ade, said that the aptitude test was for prospective traffic officers and was organised in line with universal standard for recruiting para-military personnel.

According to him, “We modelled it after the New Jersey recruitment for traffic police officers. The test is for all persons who applied for the job to test for mental ability, as traffic management is cumbersome and very technical. There is need for high Intelligent Quotient (IQ) to manage traffic and personal safety.

Noting that the process was transparent, he said, “If we have more people who made it more than the number we want, we will make recommendation to the governor. But the mandate we were given is 250 people, which we are going for. It was open to everybody. Persons from all the 18 local government areas in the state participated in the test.

On the next stage of the recruitment exercise, he said, “When the result is out, there will be physical screening to assess physical fitness, health analysis, which will be used as criteria for the final selection of persons to be employed and trained.”

One of the applicants, Marvis Okosun, said that the test was easy but tricky, confirming that it had to do more with testing one’s IQ.

Another applicant, Frank Eigbedion, from Esan West Local Government Area, described the aptitude test as hitch-free, adding that the organisers were fair in the assessment.

PHOTOS
Cross-section of applicants taking the aptitude test organised by the Edo State Traffic Management Agency (EDSTMA) for the 250 job openings in the traffic agency, on Saturday, August 18, 2018, at the Imaguero Hall, in Benin City. The applicants were polled from the EdoJobs portal.