By Violet Osatohanmwen Obamwonyi
One of the characteristics of good governance is dynamism and responsiveness to the evolving needs of the people.
Being proactive as a government has proven in recent times to be the best approach to solving societal challenges, and effective communication is fundamental to bridging the gaps between the leaders and the led, affording government the opportunity of a good rapport with the people, in order to come to terms with and have a better understanding of their needs and challenges.
In a digital age such as ours, Information and Communication Technology has provided humanity with seamless communication interface, at the same time, providing government with ease of information dissemination to the populace.
This need for effective communication with both the internal and external public resulted was the reason for the two-day training course on Effective Communication and Memo Writing for civil and public servants in Edo State.
The training program which was held on 29th and 30th November, 2022, had civil and public servants from Grade Levels 8 to 12, in attendance. The introductory course focused on acquainting participants with the know-how of public service communications.
In his welcome address, the Edo State Head of Service, Anthony Okungbowa Esq. expressed delight at the readiness and willingness of public servants in the State to expand their frontiers of learning. Such attitude, Okungbowa said, would aid Governor Godwin Obaseki’s current reforms in the public service.
According to Okungbowa, “I want to thank all of you. I am very happy that we have workers in Edo State who are excited about learning and this is what is most important; because as a Government, we can make all the efforts, but if the people for whom the effort is made do not appreciate it and see the value, we would not succeed. But the kind of enthusiasm I see here today is worth commending. This kind of attitude would aid the ongoing reforms being carried out by Governor Godwin Obaseki in the public service”
Speaking further on the need to train public servants in the State, Okungbowa said: “What has happened in service overtime is that they do not provide for the workers and expect them to perform magic. The past administrators wanted people to deliver without equipping them. I liken this to someone expecting fruits from a tree without tending to its growth; and obviously it did not work. The service became highly inefficient and could not support governance. But now there is a systematic and deliberately planned approach and intervention to ensuring that civil and public servants in the State are enabled to do their jobs and do it effectively and efficiently”.
This is because we have a Governor who understands the need for the intellectual property resource development; one who understands that if you want a civil servant to perform effectively and optimally you must train their minds; if you want government to work you must attend to the civil service”.
“Mr. Governor has attended virtually to every problem that we have as a service; the welfare of workers has been well catered for, they have been exposed to digital work tools and now they are being continually retrained”, Okungbowa added.
Delivering a keynote address on the impact of effective communication in the public service, the Managing Director of the John Odigie Oyegun Public Service Academy (JOOPSA), Ms. Precious Imuwahen Ajoonu, emphasized Government’s desire to change the narratives around civil servants and the civil service in the State.
Ajoonu said: “Communication speaks volumes about our character. It is important as civil and public servants, we start building our brand. People usually assume that just because we are civil and public servants, we are expected to behave in a certain way, and most times it is often in the negative trajectory and I find this very offensive. We now need more voices; more Edo civil and public servants sharing the story about the current reforms because nobody is going to brand us, except ourselves.
“How we interact with both our internal and external stakeholders is saying a lot about Edo State. We want to change the narrative and it would not take that long. We have already started and with this training we are rest assured that our State’s workforce would be able to communicate confidently.”
A participant at the event, Mrs. Joyce Egbe, expressed delight at the training, noting that it would acquaint newly recruits with logical thinking about their jobs.
“With this training, the newly recruited civil and public servants will be acquainted with logical thinking about the job, how to communicate effectively and know how to write constructive and meaningful minutes in their various Ministries, Department and Agencies”, Egbe said.
Another participant, Mr. Peter Okosun, noted that the training would help civil servants avoid subsequent mistakes in communication: “The training is quite interesting. For those of us who have been in service for years, we have seen some of the areas we have been making mistakes in the past and we will go back and correct it. I would say for those who are just coming in as beginners, for them to avoid the mistakes made by the older generation, they should embrace all these trainings because they have a lot to learn. Edo State Government has done well. I do not think we have any State in the federation that is doing all of this for the service”.
