Federal government trains federal information officers in South-South zone

The federal government on Thursday, 20 February 2025, commenced a 3-day training for select federal Information and public relations officers in the South-South geopolitical zone of the country.

The training which took place at the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) zonal office in Port Harcourt with the theme; ‘Effective Communication Skills, Information Management, and Public Relations’, was flagged off by the NTA Port Harcourt Network Centre Zonal Director, Evelyn Nwosu.

Declaring the event open, Nwosu lauded the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, for considering it necessary to train information officers across the nation.

This, she underscored, is a paradigm shift and quite apt, considering that Nigeria is in the era of confused notion of who an information expert was. She said it is now a place where a section of the social media users do present themselves as authentic disseminators of information, whereas they were not. This means, as she says, the traditional media of communication system should be more relied upon.

She noted that owing to the theme of the workshop, a lot lies on the shoulders of Federal Information and Public Relations Officers, and therefore called on the participants to demonstrate sufficient eagerness to enhance their skills, in the quest to make a difference in their service to the nation.

Read also: Why combating spread of misinformation must be seen as a collective duty

Nwosu while speaking on the need for government Information Officers to disseminate accurate information, discussed on how the NTA mitigates disseminating inaccurate information.

According to her, “We at the NTA do not break any story, we broadcast only accurate, factual, and verified information”.

She stressed that the NTA ensures that they broadcast stories that will unite the nation, not stories that will divide the nation.

On her part, Chinelo Ude-Akpeh, a resource person from the NTA College, Jos, spoke extensively on ‘Modern Public Relations’, and the need for Information Officers to be strategic in their communication.

She advised Information Officers to go beyond talking, and communicate effectively, using multiple channels.

Another resource person at the workshop, Emma Okondo, a former NTA State House Correspondent, exchanged ideas with participants on news writing, and other journalistic writings.

He urged participants to be mindful of their language when writing, so they do not spark further controversies. According to him, “When covering a story, avoid adding statements that can cause unrest and sensibilities of people”.

Discussing on the theme of the workshop, Ozewe Banke took participants through the importance of information management, and the need for Information Officers to relate well with the media.

A participant at the workshop, Helen Nsirim, from the Federal Information Centre Port Harcourt, expressed delight at the opportunity to be equipped with a better understanding on how to effectively disseminate government information to the public.

The training is being conducted across the geopolitical zones in the country, and is expected to improve on the performances of Federal Information and Public Relations Officers, to better inform the public on federal government policies and programmes.

Other underlining objectives are said to be intended to turn Federal Information Officers into image makers and opinion molders so they can understand government policies and own them for proper dissemination.

The Ministry began as a department but grew to have a commissioner into a full-fledged Ministry of Information and Tourism. In April 1971, the Ministry of Information was founded as a separate entity on Victoria Island to handle government contact with the public and the press.

The present structure as Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation was established in 1999 by the Olusegun Obasanjo administration. It was dissolved in 2007, but re-established in 2015 by the Muhammadu Buhari administration.

The present Minister is seen to strive to widen the scope and power of performance to deliver more value to the Federal Government and Nigeria as a whole.