USAID, A’Ibom Partner for Increased Productivity by Information Officers

Okon Bassey in Uyo

The United States Agency for International Development’s (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 citizens’ engagement in the area.

They made this commitment 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.
The state Information Commissioner, Ini Ememobong, expressed the commitment of the state government towards enhancing productivity of workers, adding that earlier training of the IOs by USAID Nigeria State2State brought a noticeable and remarkable improvement in the productivity of the officers.
Ememobong, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, James Edet, pledged to increase the number of participants and support given to the training 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 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 institutionalised 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 in order 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 in order 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.