By Emmanuel Mogbede
Abuja – Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, National Chairman, All Progressives Congress (APC) has charged the party`s Publicity Secretaries to acquire modern skills in communications for effective performance.
He gave the task to the spokespersons on Friday in Abuja, while declaring open a two-day External Communication and Social Media Workshop organised for the publicity secretaries.
The workshop was organised by the party, in collaboration with the International Republican Institute (IRI), a non-profit, non-partisan organisation which advances freedom and democracy worldwide.
Odigie-Oyegun urged the participants to pay adequate attention to the workshop to learn about social networking, saying that the recent explosion of mass media was a great challenge to communication.
He said that the world was fast changing, which meant that the publicity secretaries should change the way they did things if they must remain relevant.
“You are the voices and faces of the party. I am so far impressed by your efforts and activities in the states.
“You have to continue to convey the party`s message of hope and transformation to Nigerians,” he said.
The chairman added that APC was poised to deliver true democracy dividends to the people, in spite of the fact that it took over government at the time the price of crude oil had collapsed.
He disclosed that the party had, however, stopped blaming its previous administration for the tattered economy it inherited from it.
He explained that the Federal Government under the APC was focused on reconstructing the country`s economic base in the interest of the people.
“We are virtually reconstructing the economy from the start and this will require all positive-minded individuals to join hands with us to achieve,’’ he said.
Odigie-Oyegun stated that though the party presently controlled 24 states out of the 36 in the federation, it was working on winning more states in the forthcoming elections.
He directed the workshop participants to focus more on APC’s achievements in their localities rather than at the national level.
According to him, this will enable the people to know that a lot of good work is being done at the state and local government levels.
Responding on behalf of other spokesmen of the party, Mr Jos Igbokwe, of Lagos state chapter, thanked the APC leadership for organising the workshop.
He expressed optimism that the workshop would enhance the capabilities of the secretaries, assuring that they would continue to fly the party’s flag higher.