The 2nd Lecture Series of His Royal Majesty, Obi Alfred Nnaemeka Achebe, has ended with a call for participants to deploy a public relations approach to achieving peace and reconciliation in Nigeria.
Held at Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University (COOU) Igbariam, the event was organized by the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) in partnership with COOU.
Declaring the event open, the President and Chairman of the Governing Council of NIPR, Dr. Ike Neliaku, said it was instituted to celebrate one of the nation’s outstanding visible exports: Obi Alfred Nnaemeka Achebe, a fellow of NIPR, Obi of Onitsha, and Chairman of the Anambra State Traditional Rulers Council.
He noted that the celebration becomes necessary to celebrate him while he is alive, having been a thoroughbred public relations practitioner who has served the country in various capacities.
“I will leave us with five calls. Everybody in Nigeria will realise that our reputation as a nation is not where it ought to be. We are almost becoming a nation of ridicule.
“NIPR is the first chattered public relations institute in the world. It was after it was given to us in 1990 that Australia followed and two other countries, followed. We are only four in the world that are chartered by law to practice public relations and it was given to us by General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, the foundation Grand Patron of the Institute.
“He (Babangida) charged us (NIPR) to write a new narrative for the country. Hence, we have initiated the Nigeria Reputation Management Group. We are building a group of people that will henceforth take the reputation of this country as what it should be, that is, a core national asset. This group will he unveiled on the 15th of this month.
“Second call, is the call to promote public relations as a core leadership function where leaders engage their citizens in order to effectively execute their programmes and projects to meet people’s needs. PR grew from office function to management function and today, leadership function. This is why we are now building a Public Relations and Leadership University in partnership with Nassarawa State Government and has been recognised by Global Alliance that comprise 126 countries.
“Third call, is the call for responsible communication where leaders must be held accountable for their communication. They should be taught how to communicate effectively and be held accountable to that effect.
“Fourth call is for the sustainability. We must have sustainability plan so that whether Agbogidi is here not, this legacy must continue. Hence, we are initiating Igwe Achebe Lecture Sustainability Committee, comprising seven members to be Chaired by the Vice President of NIPR in his capacity as Chairman NIPR Education Advisory Board; Prof Okey Ikechukwu, chairman of the National Planning Committee; three members from the COOU who the VC will nominate and Prof Angela Nwammuo who in her own tenure as Anambra State Chapter Chairman, initiated this idea and then Lady Ngozi Okoye who is the Chairman, Local Organising Committee.
“Next year, it will be bigger than what we had last year and this year. It will equally be joined by South Eastern chapters of NIPR.
“Finally, good people practice public relations but great people belong to the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations. Because as we said, the only profession in heaven is public relations”, so concluded Dr Neliaku.
Speaking on the topic, “Acheiving Peace and Reconciliation in Nigeria: the Public Relations Approach”, the guest lecture and professor of Political Economy, Prof Pat Utomi believed that with an effective National Orientation Agency, redesigned NYSC, and value-based political parties, the country can arrive at social reconciliation and accommodation where truth and justice shall reign.
He identified public relations as tool for peace building in a fractured society where PR as a management function is integrated into Corporate and Business Strategy using planning and programming to achieve the state of goodwill that will engender peaceful coexistence and ehance growth and development.
“Our goal has been to show we can effectively execute the creation of Goodwill derived from research-based identification of evidence that is the basis of plans and and programmes aligned to national strategy and vision of a future Nigeria devoid of the dysfunctions of ethnic, religious and other cleavages.
“The programmes chosen to advance cooperation between peoples will then give rise to a communication plan to sustain a disposition of affect that is the desired goodwill to enable achievement of national goals and citizen commitment to a common good.”
Eminent guests at the occasion include the guest lecturer Prof Pat Utomi, professor of Political Economy; Sen High Chief Dr. Ben Ndi Obi, Chairman of the Occasion; Hon Aliyu Wakili Boya, Chairman of House of Representatives Committee on Police Institutions; Prof Emmanuel Dandaura, Vice President NIPR; Dr Ahmad Sajo, Chairman Anti-Corruption and Consume Protection of NIPR, and former Commissioner for Information, Adamawa State; leadership of NIPR from Delta, Enugu, and Imo States; Obi Alfred Nnaemeka Achebe, members of his Royal Cabinet; Traditional Rulers from various communities in Anambra State, among others.
The event is equally a prelude to Obi Achebe’s 23rd Ofala festival next week.
