- * As Information Minister, Idris, Hails NCC's Dr Omoniyi Ibietan On His Election As APRA Scribe
By Celestine Okafor (Editor-in-Chief) @CelestineOkaf11
Nigeria's Minister of Information and National Orientation, Alhaji Muhammed Idris, said he welcomes 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.
Idris also congratulated Dr. Omoniyi Ibietan of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) over his recent election as the Secretary-General of the African Public Relations Association (APRA).
The Minister stated that what is worthy of note is the fact that Public Relations (PR) has now been designated as a cadre in the Federal Civil Service, with effect from December 2023. He said the Information Officer Cadre has been re-designated to 'Information and Public Relations Officer Cadre', and the Executive Cadre to 'Executive Officer (Information and Public Relations)'.
According to Idris, the "NIPR played a critical role in championing this, and deserve commendation. Nigeria will continue to play a leading role in strengthening and elevating public relations practice at home and across Africa. Recently, when I received 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."
The Minister however assured that the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will continue to provide the enabling environment for everybody within Nigeria's communications industry to thrive. NNL.
