Politics
By Angela Nwanodu
THE Anambra State Information Communication Technology (ICT) Agency has taken a selected media professionals in the state through a ‘Technology Appreciation Workshop’.
The workshop was held at the Agency’s Conference Hall, Government House, Awka.
It was organized in conjunction with the state Ministry of Information, PA-CENT Technologies and Bonitas Technologies.
This also is a brainchild of a media parley the media professionals had early last month with the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer (MD/CEO) of the Agency, Mr. Chukwuemeka Fred Agbata.
The training aligned with the ‘Everything Technology And Everywhere Technology’ vision of Governor Charles Soludo.
It featured different sessions like the Use of Modern Media and Productivity Tools, Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Content Creation and Personal Digital Assistance.
In an opening remarks, the MD/CEO of the Agency, explained that the training became important so as to scale up the knowledge base of the journalists to be better equipped in the area of technology and able to deploy the knowledge to improve their work.
The Technical Assistant of the Agency, Mr. Sunday Folayan who was speaking in the place of the MD/CEO reminded the journalists that the difference between successful and unsuccessful practitioners is in the quality of knowledge Ihey display.
He said that the State ICT Agency is poised to avail them every required assistance they need to leverage technology to develop themselves.
“Training is passed from generation to generation but as it makes you better, it makes your competitors better too. The question is who gets it better.
“I encourage journalists to maximize the use of training to increase their knowledge of ICT so as to improve their works.
“The MD/CEO, Anambra ICT Agency, who believes so much in the vision of Mr. Governor that everything in the state must have a touch of technology and technology must be seen in everything, will ensure that the ICT Agency will be available to follow up the trainees and that the knowledge garnered is well internalized and deployed to make their works better.”
The Commissioner for Information, Sir Paul Nwosu who was represented by the Director for Information, Mr. Emmanuel Ikegwuani hailed Governor Soludo for his technological strides in the state.
“We appreciate Governor Soludo because prior to his administration, we have not seen this kind of digital revolution.
“Our job as the State Ministry of Information is to reach Ndi Anambra and let them know what the government is doing.
“It takes time to review news same day and forward it to sources we feed because of the number but with the new ideas exposed to us in this workshop, leveraging technology, we can better deliver on our mandate and reach Ndi Anambra timely too.”
The CEO of PA-CENT Technologies, Dr. Ikechukwu Umeh in his remarks, said the training brings to the fore, the need for participants to understand that times have changed and it has become imperative to stay updated and be ready to adapt to merging technological trends that will make their work seamless.
Mr. Somto Mezie-Okoye, of the Bonitas Technologies, in his goodwill message, stressed as an outstanding collaborator with ICT Agency that they are supporting the initiative, in engendering an upscale on the journalists’ skills.
“We are committed to helping the ICT Agency and the state government achieve its mantra of technology everywhere and everything technology across sectors in the state like we are doing today with the media.
“Knowledge is not a one-off thing. It is a process so be sure to own what you learned today,” he said.
In his contribution, the Personal Assistant and Media Head for Nnewi South LGA, Dr. Orji Chukwudalu commended Governor Soludo, the Anambra ICT Agency and their partners for opening their eyes to some of the best ways to work especially when deadlines need to be met.
“I am particularly grateful for the knowledge garnered on Artificial intelligence and proof reading. I will be able to handle deliverables on prompt,” he added.
Mr. Okechukwu Onwuka, who also spoke on behalf of the participants from the Ministry of Information said that they are appreciative of Mr. Governor’s gestures in underscoring the need to digitize the state workforce, noting that for the kind of work they do at the ministry, they can now deliver faster.
The governor he said has given them computers and the knowledge will further expand their horizon on the deployment of digital tools.
In a vote of thanks on behalf of the Agency, the Tech Partnership and Digital Investment Lead, Mr. Jude Emesim praised Governor Soludo for his visionary leadership toward ensuring that the state is up-to-date with global trends, as technology is the new order.
“Many thanks to the solution Governor for not only providing the civil servants with digital tools but allowing them access more trending ways for doing their job especially leveraging AI technology.
“AI will not take people’s jobs from them; what will take their jobs from them is if they do not leverage AI to do their jobs more effectively,” he concluded.
The training which is the first batch in the series, also featured practical session where the media professionals worked with some modern media tools, as well as provided opportunity for them to ask questions and get responses on grey areas of such digital tools. (MOI)
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