The Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Mrs. Oyinade Nathan-Marsh has underscored the need for the staff of the Ministry to be eloquent in speaking and prolific in writing, saying that the place of effective communication in the public service cannot be overemphasised.
Nathan-Marsh stated this on Thursday during the closing ceremony of a three-day in-house training organised for staff of the Ministry on “Communication Skills and Effective Writing Workshop”, held at STO Resource, Alausa Ikeja.
She said that the training session was designed to expose some of the newly recruited Tourism and Cultural Officers to acceptable writing patterns and styles within the Civil Service and also hone the communication skills of other staff who are also participants in the training workshop.
According to her, the nature and schedule of duties of the officials of the Ministry, require everyday interpersonal and intra-personal communication and interaction with both local and international tourists, hence the need for the officers to sharpen their skills both in speaking and writing.
She added that the Ministry can only deliver on its mandates of promoting and marketing the State’s tourism assets, potentials and tourism products if the officers are skillful in effective communication through the writing of convincing submissions and justifiable proposals that give credence to the Ministry’s plans, programmes and Policies.
The Permanent Secretary emphasised the fact that writing for the government is different from other forms of writing, and as such, government officials, especially newly employed staff, require special training sessions, workshops and on-the-job learning processes to be able to communicate effectively within the public sector.
In her words: “The Public Service thrives on communication. Whether inter-service or with external stakeholders, the effectiveness of Public Service communication is a critical factor in the measurement of Government activities. Public Servants must therefore possess excellent writing skills if the intentions of the Government must be communicated effectively”.
Nathan-Marsh, who expressed confidence in the capacity of facilitators for the training workshop based on their impeccable track records, urged the trainees to be prepared to bring to practice all they have learnt such that there will be a noticeable improvement in their various work schedules going forward.
One of the facilitators, Kemisola Jiboye, told the trainees not to be complacent with the knowledge acquired during the workshop but be deliberate about self-improvement through learning, relearning and unlearning, stressing that learning is a continuous process and a journey that has no destination.
The training consultant, who is also a retired Director from Lagos State Public Service Staff Development Centre, Magodo, explained that during the three days programme, the participants were exposed to “Effective Speech Writing”, “Effective Report Writing “, “Effective Writing Skills”, “Essentials of Public Service Writing” and “Writing Submissions, Memos”, in addition to several practice sessions and group presentations.
