By Ogenyi Ogenyi, Uyo
United States Agency for International Development (USAID) State2State Activity and Akwa Ibom State government have expressed their commitment to enhancing the roles and productivity of Information Officers,IOs, in the management of information for the state government and citizen engagement in the area.
They made this committment at a three day workshop for Development of Standard Operating Procedure,SOP, organised by the USAID State Accountability , Transparency and Effectiveness (State2State) Activity for some IOs from the state information ministry and parastatals and practicing journalists in Uyo last weekend.
At the occasion, Information Commissioner Comrade Ini Ememobong expressed the committment of the state government to enhancing the productivity of workers adding that earlier trainings of the IOs by USAID Nigeria State2State have brought a noticable and remarkable improvement in the productivity of the officers.
Ememobong who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Comrade James Edet pledged to increase the number of participants and support given to the trainings because,”this has indeed helped to deepen the knowledge and professionalism of the IOs in the ministry” describing the participants as ambassadors of knowledge.
The commissioner lauded State2State for their interest in the state and promised to enhance and broaden areas of cooperation between the agency and the state government.
State Team Lead, State2State, Mr Borve Paago-Imabel commended the information ministry for their interest in developing and enhancing the capacities of Information Officers
in Akwa Ibom adding that the training programme was a build up to earlier interventions.
Paago-Imabel said the citizens were looking up to the IOs for credible information on activities and policies of the state government adding that the nomination of participants for the programme was based on their capabilities.
He called on participants to be strategic in their preparation of the SOP and expressed hope that the SOP to be adopted would be institutionalized to guide the operations of the IOs to perform optimally.
Earlier in a remark while welcoming participants, State2State Communications Specialist, Nneka Egbuna said the training also going on in five other states of the country is meant to improve the efficiency and confidence of IOs which would in turn increase their productivity in the performance of their duties.
Egbuna who echoed the IOs’ sadness over the usurping of roles of Information Officers by non professionals in some states called for seriousness from the participants inorder to create a sustainable SOP for the state.
She however said that peculiarities of different states remained key to the adoption of a sustainable SOP and made a case for the speedy adoption of the SOP when produced in Akwa Ibom inorder to make the work of IOs in the area more rewarding for them.
She maintained that the quality, accuracy and effectiveness of public information and citizens engagement from the IOs would largely depend on the quality of training and knowledge at their disposal and called for sustenance of the partnership between the state government and the USAID Nigeria State2State Activity.
The workshop also featured group work on the formation of a sustainable and effective SOP to guide the operations of IOs in the state by participants.
