Ekiti Govt trains 78 LG officers for effective grassroot engagement

Ekiti State Government has held a one day training programme for Local Government Information and Community Officers to boost their capacity to engage the people at the grassroots in communicating government policies, programmes and activities.

Speaking during the training programme organized by her office themed “Government Information Management and Community Engagement”, the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Community Communications,
Mrs. Mary Oso-Omotoso reiterated the commitment of the Governor Oyebanji led administration to an all-encompassing governance that would not leave anyone behind, stressing that the focus was to ensure free flow of information between the government and the people.

She recalled that the State Government recently launched a feedback channel as a window to have insight into the happenings at the grassroots with a view to addressing possible problems or challenges, emphasizing that the present administration is committed to ensuring genuine feedback from the people.

Omotoso said that the peculiar position of the Local Government Information Officers as the closest information managers to the people at the grassroots made it imperative for Government to partner them for not only effective creation of awareness but also sustaining the relationship between the Government and the people.

The Governor’s aide who said the technical session will not be a one – off event advised the participants at the workshop to take advantage of the opportunity provided by the training programme to broaden their horizon for better service delivery and justify the investment in them by utilizing the knowledge acquired to help improve government- people relationship in their various local governments.

The Director, Community and Social Department of Efon Local Government, Mr. Adekola Abdulrasaq who spoke on behalf of the participants at the workshop, expressed appreciation to Governor Oyebanji for making such impactful training program possible which he described as first of its kind and a recognition of the importance of Local Government Information and Community Officers to Community relations.

He pledged that they would judiciously utilize knowledge acquired at the programme to improve their efficiency towards achieving the desired goals.

The technical session had Mrs. Oluwatimilehin Adaeze, founder, Triumphant Health & Development Initiative and Ms Oluwatumininu Adedeji, Founder, Balm in Gilead Foundation for Sustainable Development, BIGIF as facilitators .