AbdulAhad Otuoze
Kogi State Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, on Friday inaugurated the Committee For Kogi State Council For Information and Communication, and charged members to disseminate right and accurate information about the state.
Represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Dr Mrs. Afolashade Ayoade Arike, the governor noted that Kogi State was the first state in the federation to domesticate the information council at the state level.
He stressed that Kogi had been in the forefront of domesticating every policy of the federal government at the state level, and urged the committee to project Kogi in the right way as an information officers in the state.
”Information officers are the people that project the state in the right way. We must be able to disseminate the right information to the public at all times.
”It is mandatory for information officers to disseminate the right and accurate information about state to the public”, he said.
He, therefore charged the information officers to show capacity in their assignment as public relation officers, while commending the State’s Commissioner for information and Communication, Kingsley Fanwo, for being proactive and always on top of his job.
”There is need to project the state very well, to let the world know our achievements as a state. You must ask questions before you passed out any information to the public.
”Don’t pass out wrong information; you must be inquisitive in your assignment. You must be at alert to give the right information and defend the image of the state at all times”, the governor said.
In his vote of thanks, the Commissioner for Information and Communication, Mr Kingsley Fanwo, thanked the governor for making the Ministry a full fledge ministry and for always supporting it to carry out its mandate without interference.
Fanwo, who doubles as the Council Information Committee Chairman, commended the SSG for her immense effort and for always giving the right advice to the Ministry which had ensured the inauguration of the Council.
”We are the first state to domesticate the council, because we have the governor and SSG that understand the value of information.
”I assure the governor, the SSG and the good people of Kogi State, that the Council will not fail in its mandate to projecting the good image of the state and all its achievements
”We are doing a lot in the state, but a lot of people around the country and the world are yet to be aware of all the giant strides of His Excellency.
”I assure the governor that the Council shall work together, collaborate and ensure that we deliver on our mandates”, Fanwo restated.
He appealed to the SSG to impress on all the Local Government Chairmen in the state to ensure that all the offices of PROs at LG level were well funded.
Fanwo ephasised that the proper funding of information offices at LG level, would enable the officers to function effectively in projecting the good work of the governor at the grassroots.
He, therefore congratulated the Council members for being privileged to be committee members, and urged them to be proactive in their assignment.
Mr Peter Stephen, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Information and Communication, will serve as the Secretary of the Council, while all the Ministry’s Directors and PROs of all the Local Governments are members.
