Umanah charges information officers on Gov Emmanuel’s agenda

 

Akwa Ibom State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mr. Aniekan Umanah, has charged Information Officers to critically study the five-point agenda of Governor Udom Emmanuel, with a view to understanding the developmental targets of the new administration. 

The Commissioner gave the charge during his maiden meeting with Information Officers in the employ of his Ministry, at the Entry Point Hotel in Uyo. 

Listing the administration’s agenda as Job Creation; Poverty Alleviation; Wealth Creation; Economic and Political inclusion; and Infrastructural Consolidation and Expansion, Mr. Umanah said Governor Emmanuel had already hit the ground running with the re-acquisition of Peackock Paints in Etinan, in order to bring it back to life and the ground-breaking for an auto-mobile Assembly Plant in Itu.

The Information Boss, who underscored the imperative of the meeting,  explained that with the commencement of work to rehabilitate damaged portion on Itu-Calabar highway and resumption of construction work on Eket-Ibeno dual carriage way, Information Officers needed to demonstrate greater commitments and be more effective in the discharge of their responsibilities.

According to him, “timely reports of activities in the MDAs and from across the local governments should made available at the Ministry’s Headquarters for appropriate use in news, commentaries, features, documentaries as well as publications of the ministry.”

While assuring that appropriate strategies would be deployed to actualize his ministry’s mandate, he informed the officers that heads of MDAs and local governments will be communicated on the need to provide appropriate working tools that will aid in archiving video and photographic records of activities of their establishments.

In his introductory remarks at the event, the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Mr. Oliver Udoukpo, who commended Governor Udom Emmanuel for considering Mr. Umanah for re-appointment as Information Commissioner, said the meeting was called to acquaint Information Officers on the new policy direction, especially as regards the information sector.

He expressed confidence that the ingenuity of the Commissioner would properly position the Ministry for effective information management in the new dispensation.

For greater insight into the new information management dispensation, Mr. Eddy Ekpenyong, an accomplished journalist and Mr. Lekien Kanavura, a television broadcast journalist, made presentations.
Moving a Vote of Thanks, the Secretary of the State Information Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Comrade Ephraim Opongette, thanked the management of the Ministry for deeming it necessary to call the interactive meeting.

He assured of the readiness of Information Officers to rededicate themselves to their duties towards the attainment of the ministry’s set goals.