The Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management & Social Development, Dr. Nasir Sani-Gwarzo, assured this during the opening the capacity workshop for Social Welfare)/Community Development and Assistant Cadres in the Ministry.
Dr. Sani-Gwarzo, who was represented by the Special Assistant on Admin, Malam Mohammed Dauda, explained that the “training is very important and timely as it presents the opportunity to impact the knowledge and necessary information to the officers for optimal performance.
“As you may be aware, training aims to enable staff members to gain new skills and knowledge that can improve their performance and efficiency. It is a fact that skills and knowledge gained by employees or staff would not only help build on their professional competence but also allow them to feel valued.
“It allows social workers to be more driven towards their professional goals. When staff receive trainings, they are likely to take on higher responsibilities, which help to improve their productivity, time management, job satisfaction, morale and at the same time motivate them to embrace learning opportunities.
“Therefore, this attests to the need to always encourage our workforce to bring out the best, as we are determined in our efforts at providing quality service delivery to all our targeted groups as we gear towards a new phase in achieving our mandate and at the same time, assure all the staff of the Ministry, that they will not be excluded or neglected in the scheme of things as we progress.
“By putting employees through a relevant course that, ties in well with their roles, it can equip them with the skills and knowledge needed to feel confident in performing their duties. This in turn can bring positive team morale, giving workers a sense of purpose towards their work. These and more are the benefits envisaged to be gained as you participate in this training.
“For any organization to bring about the best results in the sector it is operating, or amongst the other players in the economy, it must consider training of its staff very important and make it sacrosanct.
“By training, employees are raised up to the levels of increasing productivity and efficiency which engenders profitability that boost the worth of the organization, which in turn helps it to consolidate and remain competitive. As civil servants and staff of the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, we should not take training and welfare as the same thing, they are different.
“As professional social workers responsible for social service delivery in the whole spectrum of social work practices of the Social Development Sector, we cannot afford not to keep abreast with the full knowledge and information on the best practice as required of the profession,” he noted.
To this end, he tasked all the participants to avail themselves of the opportunity to engage positively by contributing and giving the Resource Persons maximum cooperation so that the purpose of this programme can be fully achieved.
Speaking earlier, Director, Social Development Department, Mr. Taiwo Bashorun explained that the capacity building workshop was organised for all professional officers’ cadres in the Ministry, as it aims to equip the participants with the necessary knowledge and information that will assist their daily practice.
“As you may be aware, the absence of comprehensive and effective training for social workers has hindered the operation of social work practice in the country.
“As programme officers made up of the Social Welfare and Community Development Officers Cadres, you are responsible for the effective implementation of programmes and activities of the Ministry towards the realization of Government goals and objectives for the Social Development Sector of the country.
“As a result of the foregoing, having the required skills, knowledge and information on best practice is of great importance.
“This capacity building workshop has the following laudable objectives: To help the participants to strengthen their knowledge skills in social work education; to expose participants to contemporary issues in social work; to equip participants with necessary information to assist them in their daily practice; to expose participants to tactics, techniques and procedures that improves operational effectiveness in addressing emerging social issues.
“You will all agree with me that, training to building capacity of officers will greatly enhance their performance in service delivery, as the skills and knowledge gained by participants would not only help to build on their professional development, but it allows them to feel valued. In that way, it provides the opportunities for workers to be more driven towards achieving their professional goals.
“I am very much confident that this capacity building workshop would at the end bring out the expected outcomes, which is to expose Social Workers to best practices and improved knowledge of professional officers to strengthen the profession.
“Dear professional colleagues, I will implore us all that we take advantage of this ample opportunity that comes to us and make a better use of it to help gain the knowledge that will propel us to achieve career growth and professionalism, which at the same time help us to remain relevant in our different work schedules and practice,” he stressed.
In his remarks, President of National Association of Social Workers (NASoW), Alhaji Mashood Mustapha, said that social workers deserve a pride of place in society as they provide professional needs to almost everyone.