Ike Nnachi, Abakaliki
Gender Equality and Social Inclusion Specialist, Ejiro Okotie, wants Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) mainstreamed in government communication.
She made the call during a two-day communication strategy review workshop for Information and Public Relations Officers in Ebonyi State.
The workshop which was held at Osborn La Palm Hotel Abakaliki, was organised with the support of USAID Nigeria State Accountability, Transparency and Effectiveness (State2State) Activity.
Ejiro, while speaking on the topic, understanding GESI mainstreaming in communication, charged them to avoid stereotype and bias reportage.
The USAID State2State Ebonyi Field Office GESI Specialist further implored the Information and Public Relations Officers to always promote positivism by deploying empowering narratives technique in their reportage.
The 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.
She said the workshop is aimed at further improving the effectiveness of the flow of information between the government and its citizens in Ebonyi State and to ensure continued improvement in governance communication strategy.
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 had 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.
Mrs Nwobashi 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 of Information in the state’s 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.
This he noted has made them active participants in the feedback mechanism which has inturn helped the government to be more responsive to the needs of the people.
One of the participants and Public Relations Officer in Ebonyi State House of Assembly, Mr Egede Sylvester, said the workshop has actually repositioned them on how best to carryout their jobs and thanked the USAID Nigeria State2State for the opportunity given to them.
Sessions included good practices for audience engagement on social media, and review of results achieved by Information and Public Relations Officers in using the strategy.
