By Enyinna Omoke, Abakaliki
In furtherance of the effectiveness of the flow of information between the government and it’s citizens, the USAID Nigeria State Accountability, Transparency and Effectiveness (State2State) Activity has organized a two day Communication Strategy Implementation Progress Review workshop in Ebonyi State to ensure continued improvement in governance communication strategy.
Addressing participants, the USAID State2State Communication Specialist, Nneka Acholonu Egbuna said the workshop was to look into how information officers have been able to use the communication strategy adopted in the state since 2020 to discharging their duties.
Nneka Egbuna maintained that the Ebonyi State Communication Strategy was co-developed by government and stakeholders to improve communications between State Ministries , Departments and Agency officials and citizens for the purpose of strengthening state government responsiveness to the needs and priorities of its citizens.
Also Speaking, the Gender and Social Inclusion Specialist with USAID State2State, Mrs. Ejiro Okotie, highlighted on Understanding Gender and Social Inclusion Mainstreaming in Communication and implored the Information and Public Relations Officers to always promote positivism and empowering narratives technique in their reportage and charged them to avoid stereotype and bias reportage.
Earlier in a Goodwill message, the Permeant Secretary, State Ministry of Information and Orientation, Mrs Patricia Nwobashi thanked State2State for partrnering Ebonyi State saying the state has benefited a lot.
She commended the State2State Communication Specialist Nneka Egbuna for her tireless efforts in reshaping the activities of Information Officers in the State and charged the Information and Public Relations Officers in the workshop to pay attention to the teachings at the workshop as it would help them to write reports without putting the state in jeopardy.
In a presentation, the Director Information in the Ministry of Information in the state ministry of information, Mr. Anya Nkama said the presence of USAID State2State in Ebonyi has helped in developing working documents which have been guiding Information and Public Relations Officers in handling reputation management and making them active participants in the feedback mechanism which has inturn helped the government to be more responsive to the needs of the people.
