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From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
Permanent Secretary, State House, Olufunso Adebiyi, has made it clear to the establishment’s employees that upholding the highest moral standards in the performance of their official duties is essential to improving the government’s and her institutions’ reputation with the public.
According to a statement issued by Director of Information and Public Relations, Abiodun Oladunjoye, he spoke Wednesday in Abuja at a one – day Workshop on Understanding the Policy Process and Enhancing Policy Advocacy in the Public Service, organised by the SERVICOM Unit of State House.
He stated that in order to combat false information and deception, State House staff need to be well-versed in the processes involved in formulating government policy. It is crucial that they comprehend the rationale behind policies.
Adebiyi stressed that civil servants, as stewards of public trust had a collective responsibility to confront any misrepresentation in the polity by having a deep understanding of the policy formulation process.
According to him “misinformation, whether deliberate or unintentional, obstructs our governance efforts by distorting public perception, fostering distrust and undermining the foundations of our democratic institutions.
“By deepening our understanding of the policy process and sharpening our skills in policy advocacy, we empower ourselves to effectively articulate the rationale behind our policies and dispel any ensuing misconceptions.
“Through transparent dialogue rooted in factual evidence, we nurture a culture of informed citizenship and foster mutual understanding.”
The Permanent Secretary reiterated the need to take advantage of what technology offers especially through the use of the social media, despite its identified shortcomings, to disseminate the laudable government policies and programmes and in the process, gain the buy-in of the citizens.
“While social media often serves as a conduit for misinformation, it also presents an unprecedented opportunity for direct engagement with the public,” he said.
He enjoined the staff to be accountable and committed to the faithful discharge of their responsibilities in order to achieve the overall objective of government which is good governance in all respects.
Speaking on, Overview of the Nigerian Policy Terrain, the Director, Planning Research and Statistics (PRS) in the State House, Olakunle Fasina posited that policies were central to governance, hence, it was imperative that civil servants, as the engine room of government, understood the intricacies of policy formulation and implementation to enable them ensure the success of such policies.
The Director added that civil servants had a big role to play towards ensuring that government policies are well implemented and should be on the guard for activities that could militate against the success of such endeavours.
The National Coordinator, SERVICOM, Nnena Akajemeli, in her paper on Building Public Trust for Policies through Transparent and Informative Communication, she stated that stakeholder engagement was central to the overall success of any government policy conception, formulation and implementation, noting that public servants, as front liners in government activities, must engender public trust from the citizens through committed and timely delivery on the mandates of their organizations.
She added that a deficit in public trust could be the foundation of failure of any activity of government programme, and challenged participants at the workshop to be at the vanguard of promoting accountability, transparency and timely delivery of services in government businesses.
