As parts of its continued efforts in sensitising top brass image makers in both public and private sectors in Nigeria, the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, NIPR is set to hold its 2nd Annual Conference of Directors and Heads of Public Relations next week in Lagos.
The conference, scheduled to take place on October 9, 2017 at the Lagos Sheraton Hotels, Ikeja, is themed; Trackable Identity and Integrity in Business and National Reputation.
Speaking with selected journalists on the conference in Lagos, the NIPR President, Dr. Rotimi Oladele said the conference is expected to attract top brass in the public relations management across the country as efforts would be made to ensure image makers advance the importance of tracking global trends in communication education and practice with a view to domesticating relevant aspects for professional development.
According to Oladele, the importance of public relations experts in management cannot be over-emphasised as all efforts of an organisation ranging from performances, resources whether in private or public depends on how communication is managed.
The conference, he said, is going to be used in creating a truly workable alignment between what the industry needs and what the school provides as it would also allow professional leadership to mentor upcoming practitioners and students.
It would also be used in creating a policy marketing platform that will drive the communication industry and enhance value-chain, regulation, reputation and prevention of foreign invaders as consultants and advisers.
“You may be among the best hotels with best facilities and the rest, even the best workforce, but if your communication is faulty, it is a great problem.”
“In a five star hotel, you can see a well dressed receptionist or waiter at the reception, and he talks arrogantly and insult customers, what would you do as a customer? Of course you flare up. You have forgotten the facilities. You have forgotten the beauty, the good price; you just tell them are you the only five star hotel in Lagos? Definitely you just go away. So that is to show you that communication is not something that you can just treat with kid glove. We should always make sure we factor it in.
“That is why we are calling on directors of communication and those who are not professionals among them to enable them to come and toe the line of the window of opportunity of the master class that we have been running in the last two years before we close the door.” He stated.
The NIPR President said after the window of opportunity is closed, the institute would commence its fight against quark as defaulters are bound to be prosecuted.
“Like I was telling some people yesterday that you must have seen governors during the parade to mark Nigeria’s Independence Day, how many of them dressed like brand managers? I don’t know if you as professional brand journalists took note of that. Only very few of them did. Most of them just adorned any colour they liked, which means the Independence Day doesn’t even mean anything to them.
“You cannot see Germans doing that during their independence day. Only America, Germany and Ghana are the only countries which truly respect their national flag and national anthem. You would be surprised the way they celebrate their countries. In Ghana for instance, even in the market, if they are singing their national anthem, you will see pepper seller abandoning their wares standing on their feet.
“If you are talking about patriotism, local content, buy made in Nigeria, yes they are good, but before you know who wants to do, the first thing you look at is your attitude. What is your attitude to the country? How do you service the nation in everything you do on daily basis? That’s the only way.
“So, the directors of communication in public and private sectors in Nigeria must embed in their daily routine how to promote this nation, how to prevent conflict, how to build peace and unity. Not just selling their products and services. They owe this nation prevention of hate speech.”
“Three years ago, we took up the challenge in one of our workshops in tractable identity which we did in Abuja in partnership with NIMC. Now, we have a committee to manage it as a response to that. It has taken us so many years to build tractable identity. Now we have, BVN, mobile phones registration, driving licence, we have so many others, but we could not integrate them. And these are parts of the failure of internal communication of organisations.
“This is because, if as communication experts within those organisations, they know their job well and they understand the power of communication, they would be the first to link up with each other. They are the first people to show the light in the tunnel for their CEOs and directors to see the need to collaborate and we would have saved a lot of money. The biometrics that each of them are using, each one makes budget for its own rather than centralising.
“If you are arrested by policeman on the street of London and he takes your driver’s licence and he puts it on the machine, everything the immigration needs is there, everything a banker needs is there, in the case of accident, everything a hospital needs for your care is there. There is integrated track able identity. And that’s what we are looking for. So we are taking different values across sectors of the economy to discuss at the Directors of public relations conference.” Oladele submitted.
To make the conference robust and balanced, the NIPR President said notable personalities such as Engr. Aliyu Aziz, Hajia Hadiza Usman, Dr. Tonnie Iredia, former NIPR President, Mazi Mike Okereke and Tony Ojobo of NCC have been invited to discuss the issues.
To participate at the conference, NIPR Recertified Members/Corporate are to pay N50,000 per participant while other participants would register with the sum of N60,000.
