At The Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (Lagos Chapter) Monthly Meeting

I haven’t been to the meeting in a while, especially with the kind of routine I had been working under in the last few months. So off I went to the MUSON Centre, venue of the meeting, here in the heart of Lagos. Off in search of what had happened at the Institute since I was last there.

What struck me after a few minutes of listening to the proceedings at the event was just how far Nigeria was from the rest of the world in the practice and profession of Public Relations. So much more needs to be done by everybody to raise the bar of professionalism in the field. Yes, a lot of the people in the Institute are trying, especially those in the Lagos Chapter (which just elected a new Chairperson), but I don’t know what is happening in the rest of the country. Where are the courses and trainings, the membership drives, the high-powered corporate events and other activities that are characteristic of so many other institutes, even here in Nigeria? It is my humble submission that the Institute’s brand is in dire need of rejuvenation and repositioning.

How many of our practitioners in Nigeria maintain Blogs? How many can even use the basic email? How many understand that P.R does not mean Press Relations or Press Release? How about new techniques and specialisations in the field of Communications and Public Relations? To what extent have we imbibed them? It’s gotten so bad now that the word “Public Relations” or “PR” has become a synonym for activities engaged on that do not produce results or for acts of unbridled corruption. “PR” in Nigeria is now what you give to policemen who request for “kola” (bribes) at checkpoints. It’s what government ministers give to senators to get their budgets passed.

Oh, let me stop moaning now and get to my work. Talk to you later.

Cheers!!