In Nigeria, public relations is no longer merely a tool for polishing images. It is the quiet engine of trust, a compass for leadership, and a battlefield where strategy meets ethics.

These are the voices of the  nation’s PR and communications leaders  calling for a  unanimou reinventions, noting that, the era of reactive, superficial PR is over.They affirmed that  a new age of principled strategy, technological innovation, and purposeful storytelling is dawning  and those who fail to rise risk irrelevance.

Ethics as the Pulse of Influence

Public relations rooted in ethics builds credibility that no spin can replicate. Mohammed Idris, FNIPR, Minister of Information and National Orientation, warned that without integrity, reputation falters. “Public relations, when grounded in ethics, influences how citizens and the world perceive governance,” he said, underlining that transparency, truth, and accountability must guide every message, every campaign. PR, in this vision, is the moral backbone of governance and corporate life, not a tool for image-laundering.

Dr. John Momoh (OON), Chairman of Channels Media Group, echoed the call for principled practice. “PR is not perfume for bad policy; it’s principle,” he declared. For Momoh, real public relations is proactive, occurring before crises erupt, shaping dialogue and influencing decisions. Practitioners, he argued, must act as both conscience and compass, guiding leaders with truth and foresight.

 

Back to the Brilliant Basics

Emerging technologies and trendy buzzwords may dominate today’s conferences, but Israel Opayemi, Managing Director and Chief Strategist of Chain Reactions Africa, reminded the room that brilliance lies in fundamentals. “We are strategists and prophets in the marketplace, not spin doctors,” he said.

Opayemi called for a return to the roots: strategic planning, trend forecasting, and data-driven counsel. He painted PR professionals as generals of the corporate battlefield  architects of strategy, custodians of ethics, and prophets who predict the future while guiding institutions from chaos to clarity.

He stressed the need for a new talent ecosystem: behavioral scientists, consumer neuroscientists, data analysts, and AI specialists who can fuse insight with creativity.

Innovation as Lifeblood

The economic landscape, as Bolaji Okusaga, Managing Director of Precise Platform and Teon Engine, explained, demands that PR agencies evolve or fade. “The next frontier for PR is technology-driven creativity and scalable innovation,” he said. Automation, AI, and data-centric solutions can democratize creativity, enabling agencies to serve millions of small businesses efficiently and affordably.

Okusaga drew parallels with fintech’s disruption of banking. Just as financial services transformed, PR must embrace tech and data to remain relevant. Agencies that cling to incremental change, he warned, risk becoming relics in a fast-paced marketplace. For him, innovation is not optional; it is survival.

Strategists and Prophets: PR’s New Identity

PR professionals, Opayemi argued, must wake up each day as strategists and prophets. “We are not fixers or spin doctors; we are the first custodians of strategy,” he said. In a world where crises, market battles, and social capital wars are constant,

PR practitioners must blend analytical rigor with ethical guidance, ensuring organizations navigate both opportunity and risk with foresight.

This dual identity strategist and prophet, no doubt,  is the essence of modern PR. It requires seeing the unseen, predicting trends, shaping narratives, and providing counsel grounded in truth. Storytelling and creativity remain vital, but without analytical foresight and ethical grounding, PR risks becoming performance without purpose.

 

Bridging Governance, Industry, and Public Trust

Across interventions, a clear theme emerged: PR is at its most powerful when it serves both organizational and public interests. From shaping corporate reputation to influencing government policy, the discipline is a force that can reinforce integrity, foster transparency, and build trust across society. PR professionals are called to be more than communicators; they are advisors, guardians of truth, and architects of credibility.

As the nation navigates rapid information flows and economic uncertainty, the profession’s role in safeguarding public trust and guiding leaders is more critical than ever. Ethical, strategic, and technology-enabled PR has the power to create long-term value, strengthen reputations, and ensure societal impact.

 

The Call to Reinvention

The message to Nigeria’s PR industry is urgent and unambiguous: reinvent or risk obsolescence. Professionals must embrace ethics as the foundation, strategy as the framework, and innovation as the lifeline. Technology must amplify