Strengthening capacity building via inter-agency collaboration
The workshop, organised in collaboration with the NCS and anchored by NAN Bizcom, is aimed at strengthening the NCS officers’ information management capacity and improving the public relations output of the paramilitary service. The training workshop is part of the efforts of the Comptroller General of Customs, Alhaji Abdullahi Dikko, to enhance the public perception […]
The workshop, organised in collaboration with the NCS and anchored by NAN Bizcom, is aimed at strengthening the NCS officers’ information management capacity and improving the public relations output of the paramilitary service.
The training workshop is part of the efforts of the Comptroller General of Customs, Alhaji Abdullahi Dikko, to enhance the public perception of the NCS via a well-coordinated public relations platform.
In his address at the workshop, the comptroller-general pledged that the NCS would continue to train its officers and men so as to enable them to meet the challenges of present-day information management.
Dikko, who was represented by Mr Victor Gbemudu, the Zonal Coordinator of the “Zone A’’ Command the NCS, stressed that efforts would be made to maximise the potential of the service through capacity building, while promoting discipline and integrity in the service
He said that the NCS would sustain its collaboration and partnership with stakeholders and international organisations, adding that the agency’s capacity building via training workshops would also be sustained.
Dikko commended NAN for its quick dissemination of news and expressed the hope that the knowledge which the officers acquired in the workshop would enhance their service delivery.
Also speaking, Mrs Oluremi Oyo, the Managing Director of NAN, said that the training was meant to assist the NCS officers in disseminating information in a succinct, authoritative and creative manner.
Oyo, who gave the assurance that the workshop would be beneficial to the officers, noted that NAN had contributed immensely to the overall agenda of making Nigeria a better country and a place where services were delivered as at when due.
She, nonetheless, advised the public relations officers to strive to know more about the terrain in which operated, adding that the knowledge of the terrain could determine their success or failure as public relations officers.
“Try and know your publics, the opinion leaders and the media around you. Try and know the people around you, especially those you are dealing with,” she said.
In her paper entitled: “Syndication Techniques in Media Management’’, Oyo said that NAN, through NAN Bizcom, was willing to assist those working in the media industry on issues relating to information management.
She said that NAN was particularly ready to assist the public relations units of government agencies in that regard.
“This, of course, is in our interest because if they do their jobs better, they consequently make our job easier,’’ she added.
Oyo noted that the workshop came at a time when news managers, in whatever capacity they functioned, were expected to give their various publics nothing but the best.
She, however, counselled public relations officers to always endeavour to tell the truth in a professional manner so as to eliminate any room for speculations.
Oyo described syndication as the process of reaching the media with particular information of choice and selectively using the medium of choice to advance it.
She conceded that syndication was generally seen in a negative light, adding, however, that “for true media professionals, this ought not to be so.”
In his presentation on “Common Grammatical Errors in Writing”, Mr Olusegun Aribike, a Managing Editor/Director in NAN, said that the current use of English by Nigerians was not good enough, when compared with the standards obtainable in the 1970s.
He urged the public relations practitioners, as agents of social change and communicators, to stem the ugly trend before it further degenerated to an alarming scale.
“An important requirement is that whatever you communicate to your various publics must be devoid of ambiguity; your message must be clear and not vague.
“Your reading or listening publics should not be given the burden of filling the gaps in your communication. Also, simplicity is another hallmark of a good journalist,’’ Aribike said.
Alhaji Alli Hakeem, another Managing Editor/Director in NAN, urged the NCS officers to be more proactive in the management of information.
He noted that the prevailing situation in the country required that public relations officers of government agencies ought to be more thorough in their dissemination of information.
However, Air Commodore Yusuf Anas, the Director of Public Relations, Nigerian Air Force, advised the public relations practitioners to be mindful of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act while discharging their duties.
Anas, in his paper entitled: “Towards Effective Information Management in Public Relations: Overcoming Challenges and Exploring Opportunities’’, nonetheless, said that the FOI Act provided the public relations practitioner a greater opportunity to excel.
“It is very important that Public Relations Officers of Customs must familiarise themselves with the FOI Act in order to disseminate information in accordance with the Act,’’ he said.
Anas stressed that with the FOI Act in place, the responsibilities of the public relations officers would be less daunting because they would no longer be expected to “shield’’ their organisation from the media or public scrutiny.
“With the FOI Act, your responsibilities as public relations practitioners will be to analyse situations deeper than usual, as the availability and proper management of information strengthen cohesion and engender peace,’’ he said.
Anas, nonetheless, underscored the need for the public relations practitioners to be Information and Communication Technology-compliant, as the new trend in gathering and disseminating information was through the Internet.
“The Internet has become the single most viable and potent channel for information dissemination, ’’ he said.
In their appraisal after the workshop, the participants lauded the workshop’s organisers, saying that they had acquired purposeful public relations and information management skills in the course of the workshop.
The participants also said that they were now better equipped to discharge their duties diligently, while working in line with the Federal Government’s transformation agenda.
(NANFeatures)