... Says Ministry Of Information is govt’s
organ for information dissemination
Irked by contradictory statements
attributed to government officials, Delta State Governor, Senator Dr. Ifeanyi
Okowa, has said it is only the Ministry of Information that is the official
organ for the dissemination of government information.
The governor, who took a swipe at
those who issue contradictory information from government emphasized, "the
Ministry of Information is the officially designated organ of managing and
disseminating government information; it is supposed to be the clearing house
for all government information."
Governor Okowa made the clarification
in an address he delivered at the 46th meeting of the National Council on
Information held in Asaba, Delta State, recently.
He bemoaned situation where
government officials dish out contradictory information, disclosing, "we
have seen situations where heads of other ministries and political appointees
made public pronouncements that contradicted the official government policy
leading to confusion in the minds of the public and loss of confidence in
government’s information machinery."
"I believe the Ministries of
Information should serve as sensors of stakeholder and public opinion on and
about the policies, programmes and performance of the government through
periodic perception audits.
"The intelligence gathered is
very useful in ascertaining the impact and acceptability of government policies
and programmes, as well as helping to gauge the public mood, and their
perception of the government or governor," Dr. Okowa asserted.
Nigeria's Minister for Information
and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, during the meeting said, “information
managers have to be at the forefront of reshaping our country to the
time-tested values of old."
Twenty nine Commissioners of
Information and their Permanent Secretaries, including key functionaries in the
information sector in the country, attended the meeting which lasted for three
days.
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