Akwa Ibom State Government has commenced the training and learning of Chinese language for its workforce following the rising fortunes of China globally and the need for relevance in the emerging economic matrix.
Already, the first batch of over 20 workers in the state government employment has commenced an intensive two months training at the Juuldaam Chinese Language Study Centre in Uyo.
The Chinese Language Training programme for government employees was inaugurated by the state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Ini Ememobong language Wednesday.
He said the state government was moved to take up the training programme because Chinese companies are fast becoming a strong force to reckon with globally and their companies are currently undertaking highbrow businesses in Akwa Ibom State.
Ememobong posited that with so many Chinese companies signed-on for massive erosion control and road construction work in the state, including CRBC, CCECC, Wizchino (WE), MCC among others, it has become expedient for the government to take more interest in learning Chinese language to ease interpretation of MoU and contract agreements between the state government and the Chinese firms.
This, he said, made the Chinese Language training to came to the fore, and the Ministry of Information and Strategy being the custodian of spokespersons for the government took the bull by the horn in putting up a screening committee to select Information Officers to be trained in Chinese language for future service as interpreters for government in all business transactions involving Chinese companies.
According to the commissioner, “The safest people to interpret for the government are the civil servants, and the establishment in which such crop of workers is domiciled is the Ministry of Information.
“Also, in considering the fact that the contractual documents may be written in
foreign language, there must be quality control in the translation in order to ensure that government interest is protected at all times, and that can only be guaranteed by a government employee.”
While thanking the screening committee for a job well done, the commissioner congratulated the first batch of Information Officers participating in the training exercise, and urged them to embrace the opportunity wholeheartedly in order to justify the enormous investment made by the government in the Chinese Language training.
Consultant, Dr. Anthony Akadi, had explained that the acquisition of foreign languages would enable learners to be more open-minded to the culture and values of the foreigners, which would in turn promote trust in business deals.
Akadi said with the state fast becoming a destination for investors, any deliberate attempt at investing in lingual training for government employees is a good strategy to eradicate communication barriers during international procurement, contract signing and project execution.
While speaking also, a Chinese Language lead instructor, Dr. Idongesit Etim, allayed fears about the complexity of learning the Chinese Language among students, stating that like every other language, learning and understanding the Chinese language requires concentration, patience and a good mindset.
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