The Federal Government has urged Protocol officers, Public Relations Officers, Information Officers, and Personal Assistants to embrace professionalism, excellence, and etiquette in the discharge of their duties.
Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HCSF), Mrs. Didi Walson-Jack, gave the charge on Wednesday in Abuja at a three-day service-wide protocol training programme for Protocol, Information, Public Relations Officers and Personal Assistants organised by the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF) in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
She highlighted the pivotal role of protocol, information, and public relations officers in delivery of quality by civil servants, to the citizenry.
Walson-Jack noted that the training was intended to equip them with requisite skills and knowledge to excel.
She said: “The role of protocol officers, public relations officers, information officers, and personal assistants cannot be overstated.
“You serve as front-line representatives and interface with dignitaries, coordinate events manage the media, and also ensure effective communication.
“As a result, the need for professionalism, excellence and etiquette is imperative.”
She maintained that the need for capacity building and re-training among these officers was critical to dynamism and changing trends in the world.
Walson-Jack said the three-day training has been carefully packaged to deliver hands-on -training in line with international best practices and global standards.
She, therefore, charged participants to pay rapt attention while expressing her commitment to ensuring that professionalism becomes the hallmark of the civil service.
Ambassador Godknows Igali, former Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Water Resources, who spoke with newsmen at the event noted that protocol is at the heart of good governance in the country.
Igali added that good governance would be impossible without protocol officers who ensure orderliness and decorum in the management of events and activities of their principals.
In her welcome remarks, Mrs. Fatima Mahmood, Permanent Secretary, Career Management Office in the OHCSF, said every civil servant should imbibe the rudiments of protocol in the discharge of their duties.
Mahmood said protocol is central to effective service delivery, adding that Civil Servants should work together to make professionalism the hallmark of Civil Service.
One of the facilitators and Chief of Protocol, Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Ben Okoyen, stressed the need for protocol officers to observe the protocol rules and etiquette.
Okoyen explained that protocol officers work to make things easy for their principals as well as maintain good image for their organisations.
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