Ebonyi State Information Officers have been charged to rise to the responsibility of ensuring that the ongoing governance and public financial management (PFM) reforms for improved service delivery in the key sectors of Health, Education and WASH are properly and effectively reported and publicized to promote transparency and accountability, as well as two-way communication between the government and citizens.
The call was made by the USAID Nigeria State2State’s Communications Specialist, Nneka Egbuna, in a one-day workshop organized by USAID State2state (S2S) Activity for Ebonyi State Information Officers on governance and Public Financial Management (PFM) communication at the organization’s Ebonyi State Field Office, in Abakaliki on the 31st January 2023.
In his remarks, the USAID State2State Team Lead for Ebonyi State, Dr Sam Onyia, thanked the Ebonyi State Government for its commitment to the PFM and governance reforms being supported by State2State. He highlighted the key PFM areas being supported by State2State and enjoined the participants to be more deliberate, in-depth and accurate in reporting these interventions in their proper PFM context and perspective.
Egbuna further challenged the Information Officers to strive to improve governance through effective information dissemination on government programmes and policies to the public and facilitating feedback through the two-way free flow of information which guarantees active participation of the citizens in governance. She emphasized that such information flow among various stakeholders fosters public trust in governance and gains support for government programmes and policies.
The workshop which had over 20 information officers from different MDAs and Local Government Areas in attendance also trained the officers on audience-centred communication through the use of inclusive communication (leaving no one behind by their locations, gender, disabilities, etc.) to build trust and gain public support for government programmes and policies.
At the end of the workshop, an action plan was developed to address the challenges that hinder effective communication and active participation of the public in Budget, Public Procurement, Internally Generated Revenue, Debt Management, and Audit processes in Ebonyi State.
In a vote of thanks, the Director of information in Ebonyi State Ministry of Information and State Orientation, Mr Anya Kama Egwu, applauded the efforts of the USAID State2State intervention in upgrading the knowledge of the information officers to enhance increased productivity and optimal service delivery in the discharge of their duties and promised to take the new skills acquired back to the different MDAs and Local Government Areas for necessary implementation.
