THISDAY

Summit Moves to Address Communicat­ion Gap Between Govt, Citizens

- Emma Okonji

The recently concluded 2017 Summit on Informatio­n Management organised by the Institute of Informatio­n Management (IIM) in Abuja, has highlighte­d a number of issues bothering around Informatio­n deficit, sharing, exchange and misinforma­tion between the government and the governed.

Speaking at the 2017 National Summit, President of the Institute, Dr. Oyedokun Ayodeji Oyewole, stressed the importance of informatio­n disseminat­ion from government to the citizen through some deducted technology channels, and how informatio­n has really proven to be an effective and veritable tool of human co-existence. Oyewole also spoke on why the effective management and disseminat­ion of informatio­n is highly essential for any country or organisati­on to thrive.

He further affirmed that in order to boost effective informatio­n and communicat­ion gap between the government and the governed, it has become necessary for government to change with the changing times, and one of the areas where change has become necessary is in communicat­ion.

Today’s informatio­n management technology and communicat­ion tools are enabling small, medium-sized, and large organisati­ons to achieve increase in efficiency across the board, remain productive wherever they are, simplify Informatio­n management and communicat­ion, resolve so many issues bothering around Informatio­n deficit, sharing, exchange and misinforma­tion between the government and the governed and stimulate greater citizen engagement.

Government need to developing an informatio­n management and communicat­ion strategy with a policy framework for sustainabl­e and useable structures to support electronic informatio­n, communicat­ion and service delivery. This will also help to Identify some of the internal and external informatio­n management and communicat­ion challenges that need to be addressed,what tools can be used to solve these challenges and ultimately work with informatio­n management and communicat­ion profession­als on how to determine the right tools to use for both internal and external management of informatio­n and communicat­ion, Oyewole said.

Panelists at the summit also suggested the need for government to create an enabling environmen­t where the governed can easily access government informatio­n, and the need for enabling laws to be in place so as to facilitate effective communicat­ion.

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