ASABA/Nigeria: A three-day capacity training workshop to strengthen the effectiveness and efficiency of Information Officers in the discharge of their duties in information gathering and dissemination, particularly on the policy thrust and programmes of the state government, has commenced in Asaba, the state capital.
While declaring the workshop open in the Conference Hall of the Ministry of Information, the Commissioner for Information, Mr. Charles Aniagwu, appreciated the initiators of the training workshop in the ministry, saying that it would help to strengthen the bridge between the state government and the public through effective two-way information flow matrix in the state.
The commissioner reiterated the urgent need to inform the public timely, adequately and convincingly of the state government policy direction and programmes as well as feeding it with the pulse of the public for better governance, adding that the task before the officers was enormous.
He disclosed that with improved resources and financial allocations, the ministry would continue to organise such workshops for the officers so as not only to enhance their job delivery, but to keep them abreast with the technological trends in information management, adding that the workshop would for now be organised twice yearly in the ministry, just as he urged the participants to take the training very seriously to justify the resources expended in organising it.
Also speaking, the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, who is also an Information Officer, Mr Paul Osahor, said that the training became imperative, considering some observable lapses in the discharge of the duties of the officers, adding that it would go a longer way in repositioning the officers in their line of duty.
In her welcome address, the Director of Information, Mrs Theresa Adiabua Oliko, thanked the commissioner for graciously approving the workshop, even in the face of lean resources in the ministry, adding that the commissioner was passionate about the efficient and effective discharge of duties by the officers.
She said that it was observed that many officer had the requisite academic education, but lacked the parameters to effectively and efficiently discharge on their duties, adding that, that realisation informed the need to organise the workshop in the ministry.
Mrs Oliko enjoined the participants to take the training with all sense of commitment, not only to enhance their capacity, but to reciprocate the good intension of management in organising it, stressing that it was only when the effects of the training started manifesting positively in the discharge of the duties of the officers that the money, resources and time spent in organising it would be justified, thereby giving encouragement to organise more of the training in the ministry.
The training was targeted at officers on salaries grade level 14 and below and was group into three categories of A,B and C, with the first category, comprising Public Relations Officers and other Information Officers in the Asaba Metropolis, taking their turn today, Tuesday, March 30, 2021, while the Public Enlightenment Officers and other staff in the remaining local government areas of the state would round off the training on Thursday, April1, 2021 after some other officers had taking their turn a day before.
