Jonathan resuscitates public service reform c’ttee

President Goodluck Jonathan has approved the resuscitation of the National Steering Committee on Public Service Reforms after it went moribund since 2008, Director General of the Bureau of Public Service Reform (BPSR) Dr. Joe Abah yesterday. The committee is the highest decision making body son public reforms.

He said the National Strategy on Public Service Reforms which was first prepared in 2009 has now been formally adopted by government among others.

Dr. Abah was speaking during the opening of a training workshop for resident information officers for Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of federal government.

He challenged heads of information units of the federal ministries, agencies and parastatals (MDAs) to positively engage the media to communicate government policies and programs to the general public.

He said given that public discourse in Nigeria is often dominated by politics, “many citizens are not aware of government efforts to improve lives.”

The BPSR boss urged the participants “to treat members of the press as partners in progress, rather than adversaries.”

He emphasised that “as public servants, we must be available to answer questions and explain government policy. We must respond to freedom of information requests and engage in proactive disclosure.”

Earlier, the Director of Public Communications at the federal ministry of information, Mr. Emmanuel Agbegir who represented the Information minister Labaran Maku said the workshop was to horn the skills of information officers on the best way to communicate government reforms to the public.

He said the world was not a static place which required that staff are trained on new strategies.