Oyo trains secretaries, secretarial assistants on effective, efficient service delivery

By Ogundele Olanrewaju

Oyo State government, on Tuesday, organised a one-day workshop on effective secretarial and office management for its secretaries and secretarial assistants on GL 09 -10 in the Oyo State Civil Service.

The Commissioner for Establishment and Training, Alhaji Siju Lawal, at the event held at Simon Adebo Staff Development and Training Centre, charged the participants to take their responsibilities more seriously and never engage in dereliction of duty.

Lawal noted that the effectiveness of the secretarial workforce has an enormous impact on the quality of service, which often dictates the reputation and customer satisfaction of such an organisation.

In His words: “We have to train them in a modern way of doing things because we cannot afford to remain static when the world is moving forward. The secretary is seen as the bedrock and image-maker of any business organisation. The Secretary is an indispensable, versatile and central figure in the working team of an organisation. Her services cannot be dispensed with even when economic downturn occurs. 

“Employers look for good customer service and interpersonal skills which is evident in secretarial disposition; so if you fail in this regard definitely you are nowhere to be found.

“Secretaries are continually retrained in order to keep abreast of innovations in office machines, organisation, attitude and responsibilities. As office automation continues to evolve, training, retraining and continuing education will remain integral parts of secretarial jobs. Changes in the office environment have increased the demand for Secretaries and administrative assistants who are adaptable and versatile.”

He explained that apart from the effort, which the current government is putting into training them, the Commissioner tasked them to upgrade themselves with the use of modern day technology.

“You are introduced to changes in the office, which you must accept and see reasons for flexibility. That is why this government is organising workshop, conference, seminars to upgrade you and you must also self sponsor yourself to attend programmes that can keep you abreast of relevant information and knowledge update. Don’t wait until you are sponsored; look for ways of making up your weak points in terms of technically advancement update,” He said.

Represented by the Head of Service, ….. Mr B.A Adeyanju stated that the Secretaries are important in this administration, urging them to keep government activities secretly and not make information leak before the appropriate time. 

The Commissioner, however, commended the efforts of Governor ‘Seyi Makinde for putting up structures to enhance the economic, physical and social status of the state by organising various programmes and projects being rightly sponsored and approved for the betterment of all and sundry in the State.

He, however, urged them to see the training as germane not only for their growth and development but to also improve the standard of their competence and service of the state.

Earlier in her welcome address, the Director of Management Secretarial, Computer and Business Studies, Mrs S.O Okedum, stated that secretaries are expected to contribute significantly to the organisational goals by handling records and information management of the organisation.

While saying that the secretarial profession is a noble one that no organisation can actually survive without, she noted that there are high expectations from the employers, colleagues, customers, visitors and others in the sphere of the duties and roles of the secretaries. 

She urged the participants to communicate clearly, have good personal characteristics especially in terms of appearance, good social interactions, good disposition towards people and work, good personal conduct in terms of handling people with tact and respect, have good interpersonal relationship, behave in a way that reflects high moral standards of personal probity, upholding codes of conducts and behaviours as expected of the profession as well as technical competence.