Experts urge undergraduates to embrace PR for career growth
As Nigerian universities seek to unbundle the mass communication curriculum in compliance with the National Universities Commission (NUC), communication expert Chido Nwakanma has urged students to embrace Public Relations (PR) for sustainable and exciting careers.
He noted that public relations, with its many sub-divisions, would offer a rich career for any student who chooses it.
Nwakanma, a former president of the Public Relations Consultants Association of Nigeria, was the guest speaker at the career day of Caleb University, Imota, Lagos.
Speaking on the theme: ‘The scope of PR in the modern world,’ Nwakanma described public relations as a nimble modern management discipline, whose value proposition grows daily with the increasing proliferation of platforms, audiences and the need by organisations and individuals to communicate effectively.
Contrary to misconceptions, PR offers more than media relations management. PR has a broad scope covering 15 to 30 specialisms. The range of services depends on who is doing the reckoning and what counts in that effort. A survey showed that member agencies of the Public Relations Consultants Association of Nigeria offered services in at least 21 areas in 2014, which has since grown.”
The many specialisms of public relations, Nwakanma stated, include advocacy, behaviour change communication, brand building, consumer relations, corporate communication and crisis and risk communication.
“Public relations also offer government relations, issues management, internal relations and employee engagement, lobbying, research, measurement and evaluation and political communication.
“Other services in the rich bouquet of public relations include reputation management, brand publishing or publications and editorial services, investor relations and financial PR, content development, event management, and trade promotion.”
Nwakanma said public relations had become one of the most valued management disciplines, enabling firms to manage the complexity of media, messages, and audiences in the modern world.
On his part, Chief Executive of Brandhaus Communications said PR is one of the most effective IMC disciplines with the skill set and capacity to manage the move from one-to-many to one-to-one messaging with the numerous platforms and apps of today.
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