If the present number of delegates currently attending the meeting of the 46th National Council of Information in Asaba, the Delta State capital remains the same or dwindles, the over N16.5 million the Delta State government has budgeted at this recession period on the event would be a waste of tax payer’s money, time and human capital, 247ureports.com can authoritatively report.
The National Council on Information is the highest policy making body for information articulation and delivery in the country.
This year’s meeting has its theme as “Leveraging On Information And Digital Technology To Sustain The Change Agenda Of Government”, and would last till Saturday 29th October, 2016.
The technical session which began Thursday had a mediocre attendance as only few delegates from various states of the federation had arrived with disappointment written all over them.
Less than 18 permanent secretaries from the various state Ministries of Information who are the leaders of the delegation have arrived while several other seats reserved for them at the front roll remained empty.
Over 500 hundred delegates from the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture and its parastatals, as well as those from state Ministries of Information and their parastatals including the Information Minister and culture, Lai Mohammed are expected at the NCI meeting.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Mohammed would be the chairman while the Delta State Governor, Senator (Dr) Ifeanyi Okowa would officially declare the meeting open Friday 28 October, 2016.
As if to cover up their shame over the poor attendance, the meeting still kick-off with an urge from the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, Mrs. Ayo Adesugba, for delegates to review strategies for information management in the country.
In his remarks, Delta State Commissioner for Information, Mr. Patrick Ukah said digital technology plays a big role in the business of information management, and urged the forum to fashion out ways on how to take advantage of the digital literacy to promote the agenda of government.
Ukah observed that the major challenge in information dissemination in the digital world was how content is tailored for different online platforms, user segmentation and connected devices and not in the quality of the content.
At the time of filing in this report, the 6, 000 sitting capacity Delta Event Centre, located along Okpanam Road, still have scanty attendance with majority of the seats without occupants.
