PR expert calls for improved professionalism and brand building
By Oghale Mafuru
Ahead of the World Day of Public Relations billed to hold on the 16th of July, 2022, Public Relations expert, Lawrence Dike has urged Nigerian PR professionals to be adept and deliberate in projecting accurate perception of the profession.
According to the PR expert, misconceptions about the profession have had a negative toll on the perceived contribution of its activities to the attainment of organisational goals.
He said: ” This misconception about public relations and evaluation of its contributions to bottom line objectives are evident and unarguably inherent in our organization both commercial and non- commercial, governmental and non-governmental”.
He noted that PR is not a cover up as often misconstrued but a respectable profession founded on truth and credibility.
“PR is not a cover up but built on a solid foundation of truth and trust. Its activities are done in the open, truth, trust and scientifically transparent manner to elicit sympathy, acceptance, interest and result. it analyzes the trend of events to identify red signals for conflict of interest where necessary and nip them in the bud before it degenerates to full crises” he said.
According to him, any PR activities that do not adhere to the ethical standard of equity and truth do not reflect the accurate description of public relations practice.
“Any PR activity shredded in secrecy is image laundry. Image laundry is unethical and unprofessional” he emphasized.
While noting that the curriculum of universities is obsolete and needed overhauling, the highly cerebral professional noted that the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations must be intentional in creating further sensitisation and awareness among various segments of the society about public relations and its impact especially among students in secondary and tertiary institutions.
In his words: “some universities offering PR do a shabby job of its curriculum while PR lectures have continued to maintain their stereoscopic views about the profession due to outdated literature which are not in tune with modern trend and reality of public relations practice and are also not members of the NIPR”.
He added that public relations Nigeria is in dire need of public relations and marketing and urged professionals to continue to develop skills in empathy leadership, crisis management as well as effective communication skills.
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