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JOE EFFIONG, UYO
Akwa Ibom State government has expressed its commitment to the continued strengthening of relationship with the Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM) in order to tap expertise therefrom for effective service delivery and administration in the civil service.
The state deputy governor, Mr Moses Ekpo, who stated this when the national leadership of the institute paid him a courtesy visit at Government House, Uyo, noted that the Akwa Ibom and NIM have a long history of relationship which dates back to its creation.
Mr Ekpo said the relationship was instrumental to the setting up of pioneering administrative formats for the effective running of the state at its creation in 1987.
During the visit led by the national president of the institute, Maj-Gen Abdullahi Muraina, who was represented by the deputy national president, Dr. Christy Atako, the deputy governor said the state had enjoyed the immense benefits of NIM through Dr. Udo Udoaka, one of Nigeria’s pioneering management experts and one-time president of the body, who had served as a management adviser to the erstwhile Cross River State government as well as Akwa Ibom State at inception.
He noted that Dr Udoaka, as management adviser had made a lot of contributions leveraging on the institute’s benchmarks.
He therefore noted that the institute was not new to the government as several managers in the state’s employ were privileged to benefit from the training programmes offered by the institute.
The deputy governor acknowledged the institute as the nation’s flagship in the management sciences and stated that the government would continue to strengthen its relationship with the institute to provide the needed administrative expertise for the running of government
He gave the assurance that its request to build the management capacity of workers in the state in the area of training and certification, would be looked into to raise the bar in administrative competence.
Earlier, the representative of the NIM national president, Dr Christy Atako, who disclosed that they were in the state for the South South zonal management summit, commended the state government for the level of significant achievements it has made in infrastructural transformation which has made Akwa Ibom the hub of activities in the country.
Dr Atako noted that the institute established in 1961, and chartered in 2003 by an Act of Parliament, has served as the largest multi-disciplinary professional management institute in Nigeria, with about 200,000 individual and 400 corporate members who are strategically positioned as drivers of management values, standards and professionalism.
She maintained that the institute has been contributing significantly to the growth of individuals in the society and the nation at large by providing expertise and professionalism to their membership to also contribute towards public policy advocacy.
According to her, the institute is also saddled with the task of building the administrative and managerial capacity of the younger generation of managers to sustain the system, as knowledge and skill leads to the right competencies required by leadership for excellence.
While soliciting the government to give its certification recognition for employment and promotions, the NIM deputy president noted that the institute would value to the state in the area of training its workers to acquire the desired skills and techniques for efficient administration and effective service delivery. ENDS
