By JOHN ONAH, Abuja –
In its bid to acquire the technical I know-how on Item Construction and Validation, the officials of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) were recently treated to a two-day training workshop by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
The workshop, which took place from Monday, 16 August, to Tuesday, 17 August 2021, was held at the Boardroom, JAMB National Headquarters, Bwari, Abuja.
Declaring the workshop open, the Acting Registrar and Director, Information Technology Services (ITS), Mr Fabian Okoro, thanked NAFDAC for choosing to partner with the Board in the area of acquiring the requisite skills for the conduct of its selection and promotion examinations in a transparent, fair and equitable manner.
He stated that many Agencies over the years have contracted the Board to conduct the recruitment and promotion examinations owing to the Board’s credibility and competence in the areas of test construction and administration.
He expressed hope that at the end of the training, NAFDAC would have imbibed some rudimentary knowledge of conducting a Computer-Based Test examination.
Speaking on behalf of the delegation, the Director, Drug Registration and Regulatory Affairs (DRRA), Mrs Monica Eimunjeze, thanked the Board for graciously agreeing to train NAFDAC personnel on the processes involved in Item Construction and Validation, among others.
She also commended the Acting Registrar for the Board’s hospitality as well as the competence and professionalism displayed in the course of the programme.
She explained that NAFDAC chose to partner with the Board as a result of the various successes the Board has recorded in its UTME and other large-scale assessments.
Mrs Eimunjeze said, “We cannot pretend that we know it all, thank you for agreeing to enlighten us and giving us a better understanding of the rudiments of conducting Computer-Based Tests.”
She urged the Board to put modalities in place to ensure that these innovations stand the test of time. In the course of the workshop, participants were taken through several training modules, among which are: Item Writing Techniques; Securing of the Examination Server; Unique Features of Planning in a CBT Environment; Challenges and Solutions, among others, by the Director, Information Technology Services (ITS), Mr Fabian Okoro (Ag. Registrar); Director, Psychometrics Department, Dr Akinyele Ariyo, Director, Test Development, Mr David Akanbi, and Director, Test Administration, Hajiya Abimbola Lawal, respectively. The highlight of the workshop was the hands-on CBT pre-test taken by participants at the Board’s Professional Testing Centre, National Headquarters.