By Ogenyi Ogenyi,Uyo
United States Agency for International Developement, USAID,State Accountability, Transparency and Effectiveness (State2State) Activity, and Akwa Ibom State Government have concluded processes and arrangements meant to validate a Standard Operating Procedure,SOP, for the State Ministry of Information.
The move to validate the SOP was sequel to an earlier workshop for the formulation of the SOP by Information Officers,(IOs), journalists and other officers drawn from relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies in the state.
At the conclusion of the two days validation exercise in Uyo yesterday, state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Comrade Ini Ememobong said the actual practice of the tenets of the SOP by Information Officers,IOs,remained crucial to the achievement of the objectives of the programme.
Ememobong who appealed against the abuse of the SOP by the IOs also said the mindset of the IOs remained key to the effectiveness of the approaches adopted for the actualization of the SOP.
The commissioner said that the ministry adopted and upgraded it’s information policy and also upgraded the status of the IOs to Information and Public Relations Officers inorder to expand their capacity and roles.
He called on participants to ensure that the SOP would reflect the long term focus of government inorder to accommodate political and regime changes adding that the ministry have began to digitalize it’s archives inorder to make access to information and processing easier for IOs.
He assured USAID State2State Activity of his committment to the implementation of the SOP but called for a thorough and detailed scrutiny of the document so that it would be able to stand the test of time.
Team Lead of State2State Activity in Akwa Ibom, Borve Paage-Imabel commended the state government for their interest in the preparation and validation of the SOP and expressed satisfaction that the document was prepared with active involvement of all stakeholders.
Paage-Imabel said the document was not an imposition on the state government since leadership was also part of the process, calling on them to take ownership of the document.
The State Team Lead said the document would also address career growth and relevance of IOs and commended the state government for making the ARISE agenda a reference point for governance in the South South region of the country.
USAID State2State Activity Communication Specialist and anchor of the programme, Nneka Acholonu-Egbuna said the present cycle of the SOP programme would end in 2025 and is meant to improve on the productivity of IOs in the state.
Acholonu-Egbuna lauded the state ministry of information and stakeholders for their committment towards the success of the programme adding that USAID State2State Activity would also continue to provide IOs with relevant information and strategies that would assist and broaden opportunities in their career.
Our Correspondent reports that the workshop featured a draft Scope of Work for the IOs to implement the Communications Strategy with focus on priority sectors of Education, Internally Generated Revenue, Budget, Water Sanitation and Hygiene,(WASH) and Health.
