The Director-General, Brigadier General Sulaiman Kazaure has called on officers to ensure adherence to due process in the conduct of the Scheme’s operations.
He made the call in a message to the opening ceremony of the 2016 NYSC Freedom of Information Desk Officers’ Workshop, which took place at Rockview Hotel, Abuja.
Kazaure, who was represented by the Director of Community Development Service and Special Projects, Mrs. Rhoda Kwaki, also stressed the need to accord more priority to proper records keeping as well as probity and accountability in the management of resources.
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He noted that the FOI Act was passed into law with a view to, among other aims, entrenching honesty, transparency and adherence to the rule of law in the conduct of government business, adding that the NYSC had been taking measures to ensure full compliance with the provisions of the Act.
The Director-General said the conduct of the Desk Officers’ workshop was a demonstration of the Management’s commitment to ensuring good service delivery through training and retraining of all cadres of personnel.
“It is pleasing to note that since the last training of the schedule officers, there has been remarkable improvement in their performance, especially with regards to information management and the speed of response to FOI requests. While commending the officers, therefore, I urge you not to rest on you oars,” he said.
He charged the Desk Officers to come up with better strategies to enhance the Scheme’s compliance with the act and to sensitize other members of staff.
Earlier in her welcome address, the Director of Press and Public Relations, Mrs. Abosede Aderibigbe said the continuous training of the officers was meant to strengthen information management and improve understanding of procedures for proper and timely response to FOI requests.
Aderibigbe said the Scheme was working towards enhancing proactive disclosure of information in line with the provisions of the Act.
While thanking the Management for approving the conduct of the workshop, she assured that effort would be made to sustain the success recorded.
Lectures presented at the workshop include “Procedural Application of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2011” by Mrs. Justina Suwa, Director of Legal Services, Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing; “Freedom of Information Act 2011 and its Implications for NYSC and the General Public” by Maxwell Kadiri of the Open Society Justice Initiative; and “Freedom Of Information Act, 2011: Compliance Scorecard (2011-2015)” by Ichibor, Gowon Joseph, Federal Ministry Of Justice, Abuja.
Participants were drawn from all the NYSC State Secretariats and the National Directorate Headquarters.
Source: officialnysc
