Participants at the just concluded week long training of the senior officers of the Federal Polytechnic, Oko have commended the institution’s Governing Council and the management for the initiative and the opportunity given to them to upgrade their skills on Information and Communication Technology (ICT).
They noted that the training will not only increase their output but also deepen their knowledge of ICT while carrying out their administrative responsibilities.
No fewer than 220 senior staff of the Federal Polytechnic, Oko were, last week, trained on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) by the ICT unit of the institution in partnership with a global networking expert, Cisco Networking Academy.
A similar training was also held in the institution few months ago where over 100 staff were trained and presented with brand new configured HP laptop computers by the management of the institution.
This year’s training, which comes in batches at the institution’s ICT Academy Complex, was initiated by the Governing Council and the management of the Federal Polytechnic, Oko.
Deputy Registrars (DR) and Principal Assistant Registrars (PAR) have already been trained while training of Chief Accountants, Assistant Chief Accountants, Senior Assistant Registrars (SAR), Assistant Registrars and Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) would commence next week.
The week-long training which was purely practical oriented covered areas such as computer appreciation, desktop and file management, microsoft word, Microsoft Excel and data management.
The aim of the training, it was learnt, was to speed up service delivery, reduce information leakages and equip the senior officers on data analysis and electronic file management.
One of the participants, Mr Dominic Onuoha, a deputy registrar, expressed joy over the training, saying that the Council’s thoughtfulness to initiate the capacity building for the senior staff was highly commendable and a step in the right direction.
Onuoha noted that Mallam Kale Kawu-led Governing Council has by this gesture demonstrated strong desire to fast track development and staff welfare in the Polytechnic.
According to him, “This training will hopefully reduce delay in file treatment, computation of students’ results, certificates and printing and most importantly, reduce loss of files occasioned by manual handling of official documents and records.
Another participant and the Head of Department, Students Record and Statistics, Mr. Alexander Onyewuchi Anukam, while pouring encomium on the council and the management over the training opportunity, added that analogue handling of documents is no longer in vogue.
“I had said earlier that the idea of digitising the entire system is the best as analogue system is no longer in vogue in most tertiary institutions.
“If management digitises offices and the administrators are incapable of making use of the facilities, it will be a waste. So, we thank management for this gesture. It is a welcome development.”
On her part, the Acting Registrar of the Polytechnic who also participates in the training, Mrs Ifeoma Ezeokoli commended the council for the training and urged participants to take the training seriously.
Speaking on the development, the Chairman of the Governing Council and the initiator of the training, Mallam Kale Kawu expressed satisfaction at the level of compliance of the categories of officers slated for the training, adding that senior officers in this 21st century should be able to master how to retrieve information, records and files fast by querying a data base.
Kawu pointed out the need for continuous training and retraining of staff, especially in ICT to equip them on how to make advance searching of information through the internet, noting that the whole world was tilting towards Information Communication Technology which, he said, informed the reason for the council to initiate the staff training.
“I am happy that the exercise has commenced in earnest and that officers concerned are responding. This and many more are part of the Council’s efforts to reposition the Institution for the 21st century.
“Every Deputy Registrar and of course, senior officers should have certain level of knowledge of use of the computer because there are some confidential documents they need to type by themselves to reduce leakages of information. So, it’s a good development.
“I also commend the management of the Polytechnic led by the Rector, Dr Francisca Nwafulugo for taking the giant strides of sustaining a high class ICT centre and skilled staff that are conducting this training,” Kawu said.
He added: “We are working hard, strategizing to improve on what we met on ground. We are already making contacts to attract revenue to support and augment efforts of the management especially in checking the Natural Disaster erosion that is gradually eating up parts of the Oko campus.
“Some correspondents have moved to some agencies, NEMA, Federal Ministry of Works and so on. We are hopeful. I use this opportunity to reiterate our call for help to avert the devastation. On our own, a lot has been done within our capacity to check further impact,” he added.
In her remarks, the Rector, Dr Nwafulugo noted that other categories of staff would join the training by next week, promising to provide conducive atmosphere for more professional training.
She also urged the participants to be more serious with the training, disclosing that certificate will be issued to participants at the end of the whole training.
She informed that the certificate issued after the training will be considered in subsequent staff promotions, asserting that no senior staff would get any duty post.
The ICT director of the Federal Polytechnic, Oko, Ken Nnamani said the need for staffers to meet up with the 21st century digital world was what compelled the Governing Council and management of the Polytechnic to initiate the training for the staff.