PR a tool to build non-oil sector, says NIPR

THE Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) has described the practice of public relations as a veritable tool to promote the country’s non-oil sector.

  The Institute stated this at its Annual General Meeting (AGM) with the theme: Building a sustainable non-oil economy for Nigeria: The stake of public relations, was held at the International Conference Centre, Abuja.

  In his welcome address, the President and Chairman of Council, NIPR, Dr. Rotimi Oladele, commended council members and other members of the Institute for the new phase of development at the Institute.

   According to him, the Institute is now waxing stronger with each passing day.

“Many thanks to the council members for their supports and meaningful contributions to the progress of the Institute,” Oladele noted.

  The president promised to sustain the rejuvenation of the Institute while calling on public relations practitioners to see the need to use their wealth of experience to help the country in boosting her economy.

  Citing how Dubai and other countries have exploited public relations to drive their economy, the NIPR president said that practitioners in the country should think out of the box and offer meaningful public relations strategies that would aid the economic development of the country.

  On the theme of the AGM, Oladele, said that with the country’s quest to boost the non-oil sector, both Journalism and Public Relations should be adequately employed.

  The NIPR president noted that both Journalism and Public Relations should be employed to project the positive attributes of the country to the outside world. This, according to him, is Developmental Journalism and Developmental Public Relations.

  “Developmental Journalism and Developmental Public Relations should be deployed to show the country’s potentials in the non-oil sector to the rest of the world,” he said.

  On his part, the chairman of the occasion, Col. Shehu Ibrahim (rtd.), noted that non-oil sector was not limited to agriculture but also included technology, medical tourism among others.

  Ibrahim, who is also the chairman, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (SMEDAN), lamented how the Nigerian media has helped in fuelling the negative perceptions about the country.

  He, therefore, called on public relations practitioners to help the Federal Government in projecting the country in positive light to the rest of the world.

  On his part, the Guest Speaker, Mr. Waheed Olagunju, Executive Director, Small and Medium Enterprises, Bank of Industry (BoI), said that the country has been making giant strides in exploring the non-oil sector.

Olagunju, who once sit atop the Corporate Affairs position of the Bank, stated that public relations could effectively be used as a tool to drive the sector.

 The executive director, therefore, called on decision makers in both the public and private sectors to appreciate the effectiveness of public relations as a tool in building a sustainable positive reputation.

 The AGM and the annual conference attracted top government functionaries, representatives from all the state chapters, past presidents of the Institute and Fellows of the institute.