Yemisi Grace Oyebo (Mrs) is head, Document Management, First Bank of Nigeria Plc.

She is also a  member of various Associations in the records and information management profession, within and outside Nigeria and  has held such positions as senior librarian, records, archives and information management, analyst/consultant.

With  20 years experience in Information Management, and over 24 years experience as a seasoned Historian, she is passionate about the evolving industry in Nigeria.

 Oyebo spoke to peter ugwu on the imperatives of delivering proper information management to businesses, government, financial, and private sectors in the country.
 
 

Rating Information Management Industry in Nigeria
The industry is an evolving one; not only in Nigeria, but it is a global trend.

Why it has not been well recognized before now is because the awareness on the business or keeping records was very low.

Meanwhile, everybody has records, right from the day we were born. At birth certificate is issued to the baby, even at death, people still ‘receive’ death certificate. So, in one’s life cycle, documents are generated.

While in school, all the admission letter, examination papers, results, certificates, etc are documented.

When you get to work, again the advert for your job should be documented; the interview materials, etc. if you don’t document them, of course there will be no evidence for you in future.

Therefore, in the time past the people failed to realize that such information and records ought to be documented for reference purpose.

Many have lost court cases; it has caused them a lot of stress for failure to keep records.

 Thus, at time people started reasoning alongside record keeping, particularly the legal profession which pioneered the records and information documentation.

When the lawyers need evidence to support their litigations they need documents. So, it was in the mid-1950s that the profession started evolving. 

And in Nigeria today, people don’t really know how to go about it, that is the reason why few of us who exposed to the intricacies involved in the profession and out of dedication to the course; we are willing to share the knowledge with whoever cares.

Your Passion Suggests You Would Like the National Assembly Legislate on Information Management?
Exactly, there should be legislation on this matter.

 It serves as the same thing as having guiding rules, policies and principles and having consequent-management.

That is, there should be sanctions if things are not done right; and in a situation where things are working well you give reward.

 Like the adage that say: where there is no law there is no sin; the same thing applies to the issue at stake, if there is no Bill to support the profession, people will not take it serious.

 Businesses should also consciously make it part and parcel of their operating guidelines, right from take-off. It should be such that you consider your certificate of registration, how do you keep it; the advert for positions, the interviews as you proceed in your endeavours, etc.

So, upcoming businesses should not make the same mistakes that multi-nationals have made, which they are finding it difficult to leave with.

 Some of us are only interested in accumulating documents, no meaningful means of labeling them; neither do they have retrieval method. 

Where Does Record and Information Management Comes in Data Security; Especially in the Banking Sector cum Cashless Policy?
If we are looking at cashless economy we should be also considering a paperless economy. But even in cashless economy, there are still elements of paper document flow or control which demands strict adherence to laid down procedure to maintain data security.

Even the online transactions there are records that must be kept. All the ATM transactions, we keep the records.

There is no transaction that does not require record keeping. And it is becoming easier with cashless economy policy.

The same success expected from this economy is accruable from paperless economy if we embrace it.

Paperless documentation is very credible aspect of proper information record. Both the paperless documentation and cashless policy share the agenda of ensuring security of information or data.

So, the enablers to communicate or transact business within the contest of cashless economy are the ICT gadgets, and they are ridden with data or information captured during our transmission from paperless to electronic documentation.

 Even the text messages, financial transaction alerts, facebook comments, tweets, etc are information shared and they are recorded somewhere via ICT tools.

The only difference is that ICT is a tool that requires a professional handling. And the people to do that are the records and information managers. We are the real information content managers.

First Bank had bagged Information Security Management Systems Certification, How Was the Bank Able to achieve the Feat?
It started with the management’s decision that First Bank must pursue excellence in information and document management.

The actualization of this certification was a proof of the management’s foresight. I give kudos to them, because they are willing and committed to the course.

This was a solid foundation for the department to operate better.

First of all, they believed in us that work in that department. They provided the fund for and mandated the relevant departments to provide us with necessary documents and supports.

The bank has been apt since it adopted and complied with the highest known management standards, not only in document management, but in information security, IT governance and business continuity.

What Are your Advices to Banks and Corporations yet to Embrace this Important Administrative Approach?
My advice to them is to know that it is not late. They should just include proper information management in their processes and redo all their backlogs while the new once are handled professionally.

As An Evolving Profession, What Are The Career Opportunities Available?
There are so many career opportunities available in the discipline. Looking at the lifecycle of information; starting with the creation, companies need us, (RIM managers) to guide them on various policies they need to put in place. 

We need to inform them on how to enforce the policies, how to generate the documents, etc. even when they want to classify and filling, they need information managers. When it comes to storage, forget about it, that one is endless.

You can go into ranking system, document management for the e-information, etc. Currently, ICT experts are doing our job.

For instance, all those selling certain information management software are doing our job, because the sector has not brazen up.

They may not get the actual solution until the professional give them the appropriate information on what to build.

When it comes to archiving, it is still us that will do that, and determine who should have access to what.

So, there is a huge potential in this profession. 

Unfortunately, people don’t really know. That’s why I am happy with what Records and Information Awareness (RIMA) Foundation is doing.

We have seen people develop passion for the field just for the fact they have come to understand potentials in this field.

 They were exposed to what others are doing through this platform; most of them were overwhelmed.    

Information, Document and Archives managers in the Country had at Different Public Fora Decried the State of the National Archives, What Do You Think is the Problem?
We all know that whenever something is within the purview of the government as a parastatal, the situation is not always encouraging.

It’s really unfortunate because I can’t start analyzing our public sector is going through. My colleagues at the national archives are frustrated, because there is no commitment from people at the top echelon, no fund, no support and they don’t buy into programmes that will rejig the institution.

Notwithstanding the challenges, we are coming together to attack the monster of improper information management in Nigeria.

 It’s an evolving sector actually, but I want to say that it is paying. It will evolve and get sustained.

Our focus should be to have legacies for the coming generations. Other countries have central database, we don’t have that in Nigeria.

 The national information managers are supposed to have collection of certain documents. Over there you can’t forge birth certificate; because they have your data even thumb prints of the citizens, etc.

This sector has capacity to help business grow. Government should provide a platform to enable this happen.

As A RIMA Ambassador, What are your Plans for the Industry?
RIMA ambassador is like an ambassador of a country; you are that country. So, I stand for what Rima is to the society.

It is expected of me to create awareness. Even as a member of the advisory board I have to do more than that.

Although it is going to be a challenging task, but I have accepted it, because we must get thing right and working in our country.

 We have that gap that must be closed. For instance, Records management is studied under management Science in University of Ibadan; in other words, it is not even a full-fledged course. How do we address that if we don’t create awareness?

Thus, it is done on us, already practicing to even increase our knowledge. Personally, I have visited warehouses, vaults, libraries, archives, resource centers; wherever information is stored, I do visit them while on tour abroad. We need to sacrifice for others coming up to have where to stand to grow.