The Kano State Commissioner of Information and Internal Affairs, Comrade Ibrahim Abdullahi Waiya, has charged Information Officers posted to Local Government Areas, Ministries and Parastatals to redouble their efforts in discharging their assigned responsibilities.
Comrade Waiya gave the charge on Tuesday while chairing an engagement meeting with Information Officers at the Ministry’s Premises.
The Commissioner explained that the Ministry is introducing new measures to ensure the effective dissemination of information on projects, programs, and activities being undertaken in the Local Government Areas, especially in rural areas, and across all Government Agencies and Parastatals in the State.
He noted that there are over 1,500 ongoing projects being undertaken by the administration of His Excellency, Alhaji Abba Kabir Yusuf across the 44 Local Government Areas.
He added that about 750 projects have already been completed, while the remaining ones are at various stages of completion.
According to Waiya, Information Officers are professionally trained and assigned the responsibility to inform the public about government activities, while also keeping government informed on the needs and aspirations of the people.
“In achieving wider reporting of these projects we are introducing additional two weekly radio programmes dedicated to Local Government Areas and MDAs.
“In those programs, we expect to hear updates on the activities undertaken by government at various level at the preceeding week
The Ministry is also producing a monthly magazine covering the activities of Local Government Areas and MDAs. However, some Information Officers are not reporting as expected,” he revealed.
Comrade Waiya disclosed that the Ministry is working to create synergy among Information Officers to ensure mutual understanding and cooperation.
He reminded the officers that as information managers, they are performing the same role irrespective of their areas of primary assignment.
The Commissioner therefore called on them to build more cordial working relationships and avoid creating unnecessary dichotomy among themselves.
He further assured the officers of the government’s commitment to provide them with working materials, training and logistical support to boost their operational capacity.
“In addition to our continuous performance assessment of each Information Officer at the Local Government and MDAs, the Ministry is also re-introducing a reward system where the best performing officer will be presented with a gift on a monthly basis,” he maintained.
The Acting Permanent Secretary, Kabiru Musa Sulaiman, urged the Information Officers to be punctual and remain dedicated to duty. He acknowledged that Commissioner Waiya has introduced several innovative programmes that have improved their performance.
Earlier, the Director of Information, Ameen Kabir Yassar, said the meeting was convened to discuss and address some of the challenges undermining the effective performance of the Information Officers.
He said as government is executing meaningful projects across the 44 Local Government Areas and MDAs, it is the statutory duty of Information Officers to inform the public about these developments.
“We are therefore here to devise ways to reach the general public more and keep them informed about government programmes and activities which are visible across the State,” he said.
The information officers on their part, commended the Commissioner, for his unrelenting efforts towards re – organizing and re – structuring information dissimination system in the State, for enhanced effective service delivery
Credit: Balarabe Abdullahi Kiru
