Delta state Commissioner for Information, Dr. Ifeanyi Michael Osuoza, has said he would do everything possible to reposition information officers particularly Public Relations Officers (PROs) across the State for effective and efficient service delivery.
The Commissioner stated this when he and the management staff of the ministry were in attendance to the February Congress of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Delta State Council recently.
He noted that state’s PROs who are professionals are working hard to drive government’s agenda in its efforts to meet the information needs of Journalists.
He, therefore, called on his colleagues to continue to engage the PROs legitimately assigned to their ministries rather than work with social media users so as to achieve meaningful results in the dissemination of information to the public particularly media men.
“Now, virtually all or most of the Commissioners seem to have come with their own media team, media in quote because, nowadays, anybody that has a Facebook account or publishes something on Facebook is seen as a journalist. That is the present reality we find ourselves.
“Some of these persons are those that have been engaged to run the publicity affairs of the ministries, but it is always best to use the best hands and professionals to handle publicity, and all our PROs are professionals and they are well trained.
“We will not stop them from using their Facebook people in publishing their activities but they must use the PROs assigned legitimately to the ministries. With them, you can arrange interviews with the Commissioners”.
