Embracing a digital culture will shape Nigeria’s economy – Meflyn Anwana

The Special Assistant to the Akwa Ibom State Governor on New Media, Mrs Meflyn Anwana, has called on Akwa Ibom people to adopt a digital culture, so as to expedite the emergence of the digital economy envisioned by Governor Udom Emmanuel.

Mrs Meflyn made the statement at her office in the Akwa Ibom State Government House Press Center, while receiving media practitioner and Secretary of the Coalition of Online Publishers in Akwa Ibom State, Mr Nelson NseAbasi on Thursday, 7th June 2018.

The visit, in the presentation by Mr Nelson, was to officially brief the Governor’s aide on the activities and achievements of the group, while proposing possible partnership with the state government through the New Media desk. According to him, like every other profession, new media practitioners felt the need to have an umbrella body, currently working on building strong relationship with the Nigerian Union of Journalists, Akwa Ibom State. He said COOPA has among other feats, sponsored some members to the annual Social Media Week in Lagos, conducted the just concluded Democracy Day Tweet Series to mark 19 years of Democracy in Nigeria.

In her remarks, Mrs Meflyn commended the efforts of COOPA towards changing the Akwa Ibom narrative and propagating the Akwa Ibom brand in good light, revealing that she is happy about the internet revolution in Akwa Ibom State, the vibrant ecosystems and the potentials for exploits. Explaining that the sector has a capacity of creating a chain of employment opportunities for Graphic Designers, Programmers, DataBase Managers, Network Managers Software developers and Hardware engineers, empowering stakeholders and practitioners at different levels of the ladder.

Speaking further, the governor’s aide described Governor Udom Emmanuel as God sent at a time like this when the world is transiting to a digital age, owing to his understanding and appreciation of new trends in Information Communication Technology and his approach to governance. She charged members of the group and new media practitioners in the state to employ best practices in the discharge of their duties, to help achieve the goal of her boss, which is to create a digital economy where citizens can maximize profit in their endeavours by applying technology to whatsoever their hands find to do.

According to her, ‘Governor Emmanuel has enabled an e-governance module that puts power in the hands of the citizenry, thereby ensuring daily participation, inclusion and involvement of citizens as stakeholders in the Akwa Ibom project’.

Mrs Anwana seized the opportunity to call on Akwa Ibom people to rise to the faith of greatness by learning to do things differently. In her words, ‘Our people should know that there is power in the internet and it can help them to do things in a better way’. She said the Governor is sensitive to the yearnings of the people and he is concerned about their feedback, which is why he has created a mechanism to facilitate easy communication with the citizens via Facebook – Udom Emmanuel;Twitter@UdomEmmanuel;Instagram – Udom Emmanuel and Email – Udom.Emmanuel@akwaibomstate.gov.ng