The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, Deaconess Grace Gekpe Isu has been commended for her remedial effort meant to bridge the skill gap existing in the Information Officer cadre of the Ministry.
The commendation was given by Mr. Charles Chikezie, a retired Director of the Ministry at a 3-day training programme organized for Information Officers by the Public Relations and Protocol Department of the Ministry.
Mr. Chikezie noted that capacity building for younger officers had become imperative as requisite skills for effective information management were diminishing due to retirement of officers stating that younger officers needed to be groomed by experienced hands, if they were to effectively deliver on their expected roles as information managers in a dynamic environment.
He therefore commended the Permanent Secretary for her foresight in bringing together experienced but retired Directors of the Ministry to impart their wealth of experience to the younger officers and inculcate in them, the art of effective public information management.
Declaring open the programme with the theme “Enhancing Communication Skills as Information Officers”, the Permanent Secretary, represented by the Director, Public Relations and Protocol Department of the Ministry, Mr. Sunday A. Baba, said the training programme had become imperative as the Ministry expected much from Information Officers in her quest to effectively deliver on her mandate which was effective information management for the overall benefit of the citizenry.
The Permanent Secretary noted that the socio- political and security challenges confronting the nation meant that Information Officers- as
Information Managers- were equipped for optimal productivity within the varying and challenging circumstances.
During the programme, Information Officers were given in-depth training on their roles as Public Communicators, Public Relations Officers as well as techniques of Public Speaking, Official Communication, Protocol Etiquettes, among many other contemporary subjects.
Over 60 Information Officers from the various departments of the Ministry attended the training programme.
