Yemisi Izuora
The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, Deaconess Grace Isu-Gekpe, has said the ministry is leveraging on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to drive and expand the national production frontiers in information, culture and tourism in line Economic Recovery And Growth Plan.
The Permanent Secretary, who was represented by the Director ICT, Mrs. Comfort Ajiboye, made the remarks in Abuja on Thursday while declaring open a 7-day capacity building programme for staff of the ministry being organized in collaboration with the European Union Support for Federal Government Reform Programme (EU-SUFEGOR).
“The increasing globalisation driven by ICT makes it imperative for Nigeria as an emerging market to irreversibly consider the application and promotion of ICT strategy to facilitate its rapid growth and development. This will involve the development of a vibrant ICT sector to drive and expand the national production frontiers in information, culture, tourism, agriculture, manufacturing and service sectors,” she said.
Deaconess Gekpe also stressed that it is equally important to deploy ICT to drive development in other soft sectors like governance, entertainments, public services, media sector, tourism among others.
The Permanent Secretary said for ICT to be the game changer in the nation’s quest for rapid economic growth and development, the various Ministries, Departments and Agencies must appreciate ICT as an enabler for enhancing productivity, raising resilience and fostering greater civic engagement while offering options for effective delivery of public service.
“The degree to which ICT can be leveraged in national development strategies and programmes depends not only on the state of ICT infrastructure and connectivity, but also on the human and institutional capacities to effectively use such technologies.
“It is in line with the background above in mind, that the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture is partnering with the European Union (EU-SUFEGOR) to bring together international experts and resources persons with the ultimate aim of training her work force on ICT Capacity Building,” she said.
In his remarks, the Team Leader, EU Support for Federal Government Reform Programme, Professor Olasemi Bello said the capacity building will cover all the various aspects of the functions of the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture for enhanced service delivery.
“I think you should be very professional in delivering government messages through what we call Infographics using computer and ICT. It’s also very important to reduce the level of service users coming to our various ministries and agencies if we are particularly able to install what we call e-governance system,” he said.
On her part, the Project Manager, EU Support for Federal Government Reform Programme, Michelle Delgado, said the overall objective of the programme, which started in 2014 through partnership with various agencies of government, is to promote transparency and accountability in government thereby reducing poverty among the populace.
“SUFEGOR is to work on enhancing service delivery by different governmental institutions to support the collaboration between the different agencies to work on public finance management and good governance at different levels of government,” she said.
The 7-day capacity building programme will cover Web Design; Programme Design; e-governance, Basic ICT Application; and Application of Finance and Accounting.