Commission seeks partnership with Abia media to drive human capital development

By Ihechinyere Chigemeri-Uwom

Umuahia, Nov. 12, 2024

The Abia Civil Service Commission says it is ready to collaborate with the media to drive its Human Capital Development (HCD) agenda in the state.

The Chairman of the commission, Dr Eno Jerry-Eze, said this at the opening of a two-day media training and capacity building workshop on human capital development organised by the Commission on Tuesday in Umuahia.

Jerry-Eze, who is also the state focal person for HCD, said that the workshop was initiated to help media practitioners in Abia to acquire relevant skills, knowledge and capacity necessary to improve their productivity.

She said that the state HCD programme had been designed to include four thematic areas, including education, health and nutrition, labour force participation and agriculture.

Jerry-Eno said that “the media is very important in driving our human capital development efforts and we want to collaborate with them to achieve these goals”.

She also said that the decision to train the media practitioners was informed by the desire to create broader media coverage for HCD, prioritise HCD in public discourse, and educate the public about HCD.

Jerry-Eze also said that the training was focused on empowering the media to ensure that government and stakeholders meet HCD commitments, promote policy changes for HCD, inspire public support for HCD and develop impactful stories.

In a speech, a Development Communication expert, Mr. Bankole Ebisemiju, described the media as a powerful tool that can accelerate HCD in Abia.

Ebisemiju said that the media have the duty to disseminate essential knowledge and resources, foster the culture of lifelong learning and health awareness and hold leaders accountable to drive positive social responsibility.

He said that the training would focus on educating media practitioners on strategies through which the Abia HCD objectives could be better projected.

According to him, HCD remains a very core need for the development of the state and the nation at large.

“It is our responsibility to let the people know about HCD so that they can take advantage of the opportunities in the programme.

“It is our responsibility to dig further into programmes and policies and publicise them for the benefit of the public.

“The media should ask for HCD documents, study them and raise issues about the programme’s loopholes and challenges in reality,” Ebisemiju said.

He also urged media practitioners to develop a consistent capacity building culture in order to remain active and relevant contributors in the advancement of the society.

In a vote of thanks on behalf of the participants, a Principal Information Officer, Mr. Divine Nwankwo, commended the government for organising a media training for journalists in Abia.

Nwankwo described the training as the first of its kind in the history of the state and expressed the confidence that participants would practice what they have learnt to promote HCD activities.

“I wish to thank very sincerely, Gov. Alex Otti and the state Civil Service Commission for putting together this training for media workers.

“Also, for the governor to approve this kind of training for the media, it means that he is committed to promoting transparency in governance,” he said.