A total of 110 spokespersons of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) have concluded a training workshop in Kaduna, Kaduna State on the Use of Effective Communication Interventions for Combating Irregular Migration.
The event held on 15th-16th December, 2021.
The workshop which had participants drawn from commands and formations across the country offered tremendous opportunity for deepened interrogations of the existing communication and public engagement strategies with a view to repositioning the communication approach of the Service to meet up with the increasing challenges of the emerging corporate environment.
Declaring the event, the acting Comptroller General, Isah Jere Idris who was represented by the Zonal Coordinator of Zone “B”, ACG Zainab Lawal noted that management remains strongly committed to training and retraining exercises for the purpose of building a robust workforce that can sufficiently contend with unfolding realities of modern migration management.
He stressed that the best of machines and other equipment without a competent and skilled workforce cannot lead any organization through the increasingly competitive global environment.
He enjoined participants to make good use of the opportunity offered by the training and be ready to step down the training to their colleagues on return to their various commands and formations for enhanced impact to the Service.
He thanked the European Union for their various capacity building interventions for the Service while assuring of management’s renewed commitment to sustaining enduring relationship.
In his remark, the leader of the Project Team of the Ibero-American Foundation for Administration and Public Policy (FIIAPP), the implementers of the Project, Mr. Rafael Mois Molina represented by Mr. Omotosho Bello, said that the training exercises were part of his organization’s efforts at expanding the capacity of NIS Communication Officers in their public engagement efforts in the battle against human trafficking and smuggling.
He noted that his organization is currently implementing some EU programmes on the fight against the twin evils of human trafficking and smuggling and NIS is one of the strategic partners in the project.
During the workshops, participants were taken through insightful lectures by some resource persons on topics such as the Role of Public Relations Officers in Organizational Growth, the Use of Social Media in Combating Irregular Migration as well as expositions on the place of Behavioural Change Communication in addressing Social Change Issues among others.
It could be recalled that the first batch of the Workshops which held in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State on 24th-26th November, 2021 had 45 participants while the Kaduna batch had 65.
A major highlight of the event was the release of a communiqué which called for among other things, the need for the Service to ensure that appointment of Public Relations Officers in the Service should henceforth be based on possession of requisite qualifications and proven demonstration of competence and integrity.
