April 28, 2010 -- President James Michel yesterday appointed Ms Merline Volcere as the chief executive officer of the newly created National Information Services Agency (NISA). Ms Volcere has over 30 years experience in public administration. Until her appointment as NISA head, she was the director general for administration in the President's Office.

The main function of NISA, a corporate body aiming for financial autonomy, is to publish the Seychelles Nation newspaper.  The new director and editor of Seychelles Nation is Mr. Robert Andre. He is the most senior journalist at Seychelles Nation. 

The posts of assistant director will be taken up by Mr. Gerard Govinden and Ms. Mary-Anne Lepathy.

The outgoing director under the Department of Information and Public Relations organisational structure, Mr Abdoullaye Sylla, will take up a new post in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

On 23rd March 2010 the National Assembly approved legislation for the setting up of the information agency. NISA will provide information services in an efficient, objective, impartial and cost-effective manner to the public and state institutions.

Although its main function is to produce the Seychelles Nation and other publications, it will also provide support to the printing and publishing industries, using state-of-the-art technology. This will allow it to contribute to the development of the press section in mass media in Seychelles. Nation, the publishing
arm of NISA, is an established information outlet for the government, national institutions, the private sector and public in general.

Part of the mission of NISA is to contribute to national development and nation-building.

Commenting on the formation of NISA, President Michel said: "It is another big step in the development of a reliable and sustainable information service to the public. It is a major public service provider and there is the need to render its operations and functions more efficient."

The President, who holds portfolio responsibility for information, explained that there was clearly a need to have more pages for articles and advertising.

"There were budgetary constraints but the successful economic reform has given us the perfect opportunity to create a corporate body for the cost-effective production of the Seychelles Nation and provision of other information services to both government and the public," added the President.

"At this time of big changes, I wish to thank the staff at Seychelles Nation for their dedication and hard work. NISA is a big, but exciting, challenge.  It ushers in an entrepreneurial working environment. It will have its own bank account and be responsible for its revenue generation and financing. NISA empowers staff to build their new organization into a business success," the President said.

President Michel has appointed the five-member board of directors who will be responsible for the agency's policy and control.

They are Mr. Rene Morel (Principal Secretary, Department of Information and Public Relations) as chairman, and board members, Deacon Louis Agathine,  Damien Thesee (Ministry of Finance), Sebastien Pillay (University of Seychelles) and Myrna Bonnelame (Private sector).