PRCAN to introduce new Standards of Practice
By Felicia Nwosu
It will no longer be business as usual with practitioners in the Public Relations Consultants Association of Nigeria (PRCAN), as the association is set to introduce some reforms that will lead to a paradigm shift in protecting the interest of practitioners, businesses of clients and companies in the sub-sector.
This was disclosed by the president of the association, Iisrael Jaiye-Opayemi, during a two-day retreat organized for Chief Executive Officers and Leaders of PRCAN member-firms at Epe Resort and Spa, Lagos.
During the retreat, which had the theme, “Building Resilience for Growth-Rethinking How You Do Business”, the PRCAN President stated that members of the association unanimously agreed and adopted the PRCAN Practice Standards 2022 for implementation.
Mr. Jaiye-Opayemi noted that the PRCAN Practice Standards 2022, expected to be launched within the next few weeks, would provide ground rules for improved public relations consulting practice and bring better value to corporate and public sector clients who engage the services of public relations consulting firms in Nigeria.
Part of the reforms, according to him, is the need for clients to engage the services of PRCAN certified consultancies given the opportunities and institutional protection they stand to gain should issues arise in the contractual engagement.
“Should issues arise; a client can now make recourse to an organ of PRCAN for redress or intervention. This ensures that clients will get full value for money. Similarly, PRCAN member-firms will enjoy full institutional support from PRCAN and the NIPR as regulators when these reforms come into effect. The package is a win-win for all,” Opayemi assured.
The PRCAN President explained that the reforms in the PRCAN Practice Standards 2022 would also help prospective corporate and public sector clients understand the 21 practice areas they can seek professional services from within the circle of legally recognized public relations firms in Nigeria.
He admonished government and corporate institutes engaging the services of public relations firms to demand their PRCAN membership certificate as a requisite minimum in addition to other prerequisites the PRCAN Practice Standards 2022 will make mandatory for such engagements.
He noted that as part of the drive towards the effective date of the reforms, the association will engage with relevant industry stakeholders such as the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), the National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria (NIMN), the Advertisers Association of Nigeria (ADVAN), the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON), the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN), the Experiential Marketers Association of Nigeria (EXMAN) and the Association of Communications and Marketing Professionals in Banks (ACAMB) to ensure their buy-in as critical stakeholders.
According to the report submitted by the Business Transformation Committee of the association, PRCAN is already working on creating a differentiating identity for its members through a sustained campaign to be led by an advocacy committee established for that purpose to differentiate its members from the quacks and interlopers parading themselves as public relations consulting firms in Nigeria.
Members of the Advocacy committee comprise the Managing Director, Integrated Indigo Limited, Bolaji Abimbola; Chief Executive Officer, Media Range Limited, Hassan Abdul; Chief Executive Officer, Modion Communications, Odion Aleobua; and Lead Strategist, Absolute PR Limited, Akonte Ekine.
Recall that the president of PRCAN, in a recent interview with MARKETING EDGE, commended APCON reform, and also advocated the same for PR sector.
“The kind of growth that we would have seen in public relations today, would have been far better than what we are currently seeing if we have that kind of strong regulatory backings from regulatory intervention , strong regulatory voice in the market which, we must credit our colleagues in advertising for. APCON has done pretty well; it has become a strong voice in support of regulations of the advertising,” he said.
With this in place, members of the PRCAN will soon heave a sigh of relief as this will soon be a reality as the association heads towards a reformative transition that will give its members a strong voice in the PR domain.
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