The importance of training and retraining for the workforce of any organisation towards achieving maximum productivity cannot be over-emphasised, hence the need to always update the knowledge of staffers.

Ogun State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Alhaji Waheed Odusile, made this known during a day training organised for Information Officers, with the theme “Acts of Public Speaking” held at the Governor's Office Press Center, Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta.

Odusile said capacity building is essential for professionals to keep them abreast of the current trend in their chosen carrier, adding that it is a way of sharpening officers’ skills in the course of discharging their duties.

He assured that the Ministry would not relent in organising impactful training for its officers to make them more efficient in promoting the government’s policies and programmes, saying “I want to leave the officers better than I met them”.

Odusile enjoined the officers to keep updating their knowledge and engage in productive ventures that would help them in the future.

Earlier in his address, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Alhaji Waheed Adesina, while declaring the training open, said there is a paradigm shift in the practice of journalism presently, saying information officers should be able to embrace training to broaden their horizons, noting that the Ministry would continue to provide an enabling environment for officers to be more productive.

In his lecture, a former Assistant General Manager, Ogun State Broadcasting Corporation (OGBC), and a Public Speaker, Mr. Busayo Olaifa, who spoke on the importance of Mastering Public Speaking, said a Public Speaker could be a Moderator or Master of Ceremony whose responsibility would add value to an event.  

Mr. Olaifa highlighted the tips and skills necessary to succeed as a public speaker, such as self-discipline, time and voice management, talent development, good planning and command of language, among others.

“An event is not complete without a Moderator or Master of Ceremony, and such person is positioned as a Public Speaker, who should be able to anchor a programme well. When you are handling a microphone, it does not mean you are superior to your audience, so, it is expected of you to be level-headed and add value to whatever you are doing”.

          In their separate remarks on the training, Mr. Bashiru Sakirudeen and Mrs. Olabisi Adegbite expressed delight over the theme of the training and content of the lecture, saying the knowledge gained would be effectively applied whenever the need arises.