NIPR inducts 310 registered public relations practitioners

The Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), established in 1963, has recently inducted 310 registered Public Relations Practitioners during its 2013 induction ceremony which took place at the Oranmiyan Hall of Lagos Airport Hotel, Ikeja, on Tuesday, August 27, 2013.

Bringing the new members into their fold, the 12th President of the body, Alhaji Mohammed Abdullai, noted that NIPR derived its power by law to register members, regulate the practice/development of the PR Profession and monitor professional conducts through an established Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct regime, stressing that as it was the practice with respectable professional organizations everywhere, the law allows standard academic and professional qualifications for admissions into the Institute.

The minister also pointed out that the profession was about reputation, the result of what we do, what we say and what others say about us. 

Speaking shortly on arrival from the induction ceremony at the Ibom International Aiport with journalists, Mr. Aniefiok Iwaudofia, the Public Affairs Officer (PAO) of an indigenous oil exploration firm that operates the StubbCreek Marginal Oil Field in Akwa Ibom State, Universal Energy Resources Limited (UERL), who was inducted alongside a Senator of the Federal Republic and the National Organizing Secretary of All Progressive Congress (APC), said public relations was a planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain goodwill and mutual understanding between an organization and its publics.

Mr. Iwaudofia, who is also a member of the American National Communication Association (NCA), stressed that for Nigeria to take the advantage of information resources at her disposal, the country must have professionals with professional competence at all levels to oversee the collection, management and dissemination of information, saying: “Public Relations is the discipline which looks after reputation, with the aim of earning understanding and support and influencing opinion and behavior.”

The Public Affairs Officer, who is a communication expert with a Master of Science degree in Professional Communication from Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States of America, said the induction was in fulfillment of the functions bestowed on the Institution and its members by the Act which established it. 

This year, according to the image maker of UERL, qualified applicants were registered and by induction, were certified to practice in Nigeria.