….Lauds Ibietan’s Election Into APRA
The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, has described the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations and the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management, to establish a degree-awarding academy for public relations practice in Nigeria as a welcomed development.
This is even as he said that the recent election of a Nigerian, Dr. Omoniyi Ibietan, as the Secretary-General of the African Public Relations Association (APRA) as a desirable development for the country.
Idris recalled that Public Relations (PR) had now been designated as a cadre in the Federal Civil Service, with effect from December 2023, with Information Officer Cadre now re-designated to ‘Information and Public Relations Officer Cadre’, and the Executive Cadre to ‘Executive Officer (Information and Public Relations)’.
According to the minister, the NIPR played a critical role in championing this transformation initiative in the public service, and therefore deserves commendation.
The minister maintained that Nigeria would continue to play a leading role in strengthening and elevating public relations practice at home and across Africa, adding that recently, when he hosted the President of the African Public Relations Association, Mr. Arik Karani, he commended Nigeria in this regard.
He said: “[Nigeria] was, for the longest time, the only country in Africa that had a law that professionalized public relations. It was Nigeria that started it on the continent, and only last year did Zambia come out with its own law. So, now we have two countries on the continent, and only now in Kenya, the bill for professionalizing public relations is at the second reading in Parliament.”
He assured that the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu would continue to provide the enabling environment for everybody within Nigeria’s communications industry to thrive.
