The Federal Government extended the deadline for its ongoing Federal Civil Service recruitment to accommodate Nigerians who faced technical difficulties while attempting to apply. However, the technical issues have not been fixed.

FIJ learnt that, despite the deadline extension, the government had not got rid of the persistent technical issues affecting the recruitment portal.

On Monday, the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC) announced a seven-day extension, shifting the application deadline to March 17.

“The Federal Civil Service Commission has extended the closing date for receiving applications for various vacancies in the Federal Civil Service to Monday, March 17, 2025, to allow more eligible candidates to participate in the exercise,” the statement read.

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The recruitment exercise, initially announced on January 27, offers over 70 positions across various ministries, departments and agencies.

However, many applicants have reported difficulties accessing the portal, prompting widespread calls for an extension.

FIJ attempted to use the recruitment portal and encountered several technical issues.

Accessing the homepage required five attempts, with an average load time of six minutes per attempt.

Additionally, while the recruitment announcement advertises over 70 roles, users are unable to navigate beyond the first page, as the portal does not display subsequent job listings.

Further inquiries led FIJ to the official Civil Service website linked within the recruitment portal.

However, between 4 pm on Monday and press time, the link consistently returned a “Bad Gateway” error message for all pages except the recruitment homepage, which itself remained slow and unresponsive.

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According to the guidelines set by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), government websites must be accessible 24 hours a day and should minimise load times.

The agency also mandates the removal of broken links and pages to ensure seamless public access.

Despite the extension, applicants continue to face the same technical challenges that initially hindered the recruitment process. This begs the question of whether the extension would be useful for applicants who were left behind.