Rivers State Commissioner for Information and Communication Paulinus Nsirim

As part of his facility tour of parastatals and agencies under his ministry, Rivers Commissioner for Information and Communication, Paulinus Nsirim, has charged staff of the Rivers State Newspaper Corporation (RSNC) and the Government Printing Press to justify the governor’s confidence in terms of production.

He made the call on Thursday 9 January in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

“The governor has made a strong statement by looking within our rank and file, and decided that we have the potential to produce a commissioner (for Information). What that means is that we must justify that confidence.

“In justifying the confidence, we have to change our mind-set towards our work in order to be more productive”, the commissioner said.

While noting that it was the first time such appointment would be made in the history of the Ministry, he emphasised change of mind-set of some civil servants who see working for a government-owned media as a licence to do anything they like.

“Everyone has the potential to recreate this organisation. The idea that this is a government parastatal, so, people can come to work any time they like has to stop.

“It is time for productivity. It’s only someone that doesn’t want to make progress that will keep doing something the same way repeatedly and expect better result”, he said.

Towards this end, Nsirim directed heads of all departments to draw up a template for appraisal of staff, saying that such templates should take cognisance of each department.

“If you are in advert, your template will be different from those in administration and editorial”, he explained.

“We are going to work collectively to show the world that this is a government-owned newspaper house where we can excel, be productive, and make profit.

“His Excellency is desirous to make Rivers State the destination of choice in this country, and he is not paying lip service to it. He is rather building the right environment, providing health care, education, agriculture, improving human capital development, etc.

“I’m challenging both management and staff to think outside the box, be creative and innovative. Let’s demonstrate to the world that we have men and women in these organisations that have the potentials to turn things around. We are demanding from you greater productivity and efficiency”, the Commissioner concluded.

In attendance at the meeting were various Directors from the Ministry, RSNC, and Government Printing Press.