diff --git a/drivers/event/octeontx/Makefile b/drivers/event/octeontx/Makefile
index fdf1b7385..adffd4f09 100644
--- a/drivers/event/octeontx/Makefile
+++ b/drivers/event/octeontx/Makefile
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ CFLAGS += -I$(RTE_SDK)/drivers/mempool/octeontx/
 CFLAGS += -I$(RTE_SDK)/drivers/net/octeontx/
 
 LDLIBS += -lrte_eal -lrte_eventdev -lrte_mempool_octeontx
-LDLIBS += -lrte_bus_pci
+LDLIBS += -lrte_bus_pci -lrte_kvargs -lrte_mempool -lrte_mbuf
 LDLIBS += -lrte_bus_vdev
 
 EXPORT_MAP := rte_pmd_octeontx_ssovf_version.map
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ LIBABIVER := 1
 #
 SRCS-$(CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_PMD_OCTEONTX_SSOVF) += ssovf_worker.c
 SRCS-$(CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_PMD_OCTEONTX_SSOVF) += ssovf_evdev.c
+SRCS-$(CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_PMD_OCTEONTX_SSOVF) += selftest_octeontx.c
 
 ifeq ($(CONFIG_RTE_TOOLCHAIN_GCC),y)
 CFLAGS_ssovf_worker.o += -fno-prefetch-loop-arrays
diff --git a/drivers/event/octeontx/ssovf_evdev.c b/drivers/event/octeontx/ssovf_evdev.c
index 117b1453e..80e8d23c7 100644
--- a/drivers/event/octeontx/ssovf_evdev.c
+++ b/drivers/event/octeontx/ssovf_evdev.c
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@
 #include <rte_eal.h>
 #include <rte_ethdev.h>
 #include <rte_event_eth_rx_adapter.h>
+#include <rte_kvargs.h>
 #include <rte_lcore.h>
 #include <rte_log.h>
 #include <rte_malloc.h>
@@ -592,6 +593,15 @@ ssovf_close(struct rte_eventdev *dev)
 	return 0;
 }
 
+static int
+ssovf_self_test(const char *key __rte_unused, const char *value,
+		void *opaque)
+{
+	int *flag = opaque;
+	*flag = !!atoi(value);
+	return 0;
+}
+
 /* Initialize and register event driver with DPDK Application */
 static const struct rte_eventdev_ops ssovf_ops = {
 	.dev_infos_get    = ssovf_info_get,
@@ -627,7 +637,14 @@ ssovf_vdev_probe(struct rte_vdev_device *vdev)
 	struct rte_eventdev *eventdev;
 	static int ssovf_init_once;
 	const char *name;
+	const char *params;
 	int ret;
+	int self_test;
+
+	static const char *const args[] = {
+		SSOVF_SELF_TEST_ARG,
+		NULL
+	};
 
 	name = rte_vdev_device_name(vdev);
 	/* More than one instance is not supported */
@@ -636,6 +653,30 @@ ssovf_vdev_probe(struct rte_vdev_device *vdev)
 		return -EINVAL;
 	}
 
+	params = rte_vdev_device_args(vdev);
+	if (params != NULL && params[0] != '\0') {
+		struct rte_kvargs *kvlist = rte_kvargs_parse(params, args);
+
+		if (!kvlist) {
+			ssovf_log_info(
+				"Ignoring unsupported paramss supplied '%s'",
+				name);
+		} else {
+			int ret = rte_kvargs_process(kvlist,
+					SSOVF_SELF_TEST_ARG,
+					ssovf_self_test, &self_test);
+			if (ret != 0) {
+				ssovf_log_err(
+					"%s: Error in selftest",
+					name);
+				rte_kvargs_free(kvlist);
+				return ret;
+			}
+		}
+
+		rte_kvargs_free(kvlist);
+	}
+
 	eventdev = rte_event_pmd_vdev_init(name, sizeof(struct ssovf_evdev),
 				rte_socket_id());
 	if (eventdev == NULL) {
@@ -686,6 +727,8 @@ ssovf_vdev_probe(struct rte_vdev_device *vdev)
 			edev->max_event_ports);
 
 	ssovf_init_once = 1;
+	if (self_test)
+		test_eventdev_octeontx();
 	return 0;
 
 error:
diff --git a/drivers/event/octeontx/ssovf_evdev.h b/drivers/event/octeontx/ssovf_evdev.h
index b093a3e73..4332d2461 100644
--- a/drivers/event/octeontx/ssovf_evdev.h
+++ b/drivers/event/octeontx/ssovf_evdev.h
@@ -57,6 +57,9 @@
 #define ssovf_log_err(fmt, args...) \
 	RTE_LOG(ERR, EVENTDEV, "[%s] %s() " fmt "\n", \
 		RTE_STR(EVENTDEV_NAME_OCTEONTX_PMD), __func__, ## args)
+#define ssovf_log_selftest(fmt, args...) \
+	RTE_LOG(INFO, EVENTDEV, "[%s] %s() " fmt "\n", \
+		RTE_STR(EVENTDEV_NAME_OCTEONTX_PMD), __func__, ## args)
 
 #define SSO_MAX_VHGRP                     (64)
 #define SSO_MAX_VHWS                      (32)
@@ -114,6 +117,8 @@
 #define SSO_GRP_GET_PRIORITY              0x7
 #define SSO_GRP_SET_PRIORITY              0x8
 
+#define SSOVF_SELF_TEST_ARG               ("self_test")
+
 /*
  * In Cavium OcteonTX SoC, all accesses to the device registers are
  * implictly strongly ordered. So, The relaxed version of IO operation is
@@ -196,5 +201,6 @@ uint16_t ssows_deq_timeout_burst(void *port, struct rte_event ev[],
 		uint16_t nb_events, uint64_t timeout_ticks);
 void ssows_flush_events(struct ssows *ws, uint8_t queue_id);
 void ssows_reset(struct ssows *ws);
+void test_eventdev_octeontx(void);
 
 #endif /* __SSOVF_EVDEV_H__ */
