) The Research and Curriculum Department of the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) on Monday in Jos organised its annual Library Week to educate and inform the public on the essentials of reading.
The Week, whose theme is: “The Role of Information Dissemination in Preventing the Pandemic of COVID 19”, was declared open by the Director-General of the fund, Sir Joseph Ari.
Ari said ITF’s main mandate was training, but that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, conducting training in the conventional way would be difficult without the Information and Communication Technology (ICT).
Represented by the director of ICT of the fund, Mr Dickson Onuoha, the director-general described Information Communication Technology (ICT) as one of the greatest assets any organisation could have.
He said that the ITF had executed a lot of training programmes during the pandemic via ICT.
He explained that with ICT, information and training could be disseminated and conducted without gathering people physically and exposing them to the virus.
Ari disclosed that the fund had an e-learning centre through which information dissemination was also made easier.
Earlier, the Director of Research of ITF, Dr Zakariah Piwuna, in his welcome address, said the Library Week was an annual affair of the fund organised to educate and inform the public on the essentials of reading.
In her paper presentation at the programme, Dr Lily Ezeala, a lecturer with the department of Social Science Education,University of Jos, said that information dissemination was a powerful tool that could stir the whole world into action within minutes.
Ezeala said information was disseminated with the hope that the recipients would improve their knowledge base, as the main objective of disseminating information was to advise, warn and for proffering solutions to an impending danger.
She also said that information dissemination helped in the enlightening the public on the required health protocols, including the symptoms of the COVID-19.
She called on the government to provide more funding for libraries and information services as it helped to sensitise the public and reduce ignorance.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that that the ITF has a Hybrid Library that is digital, virtual and electronic.
