By: Felix Ikpotor
Persons involved in public relations practice in Rivers State without requisite certification from the Nigeria Institute of Public Relations, NIPR, may soon find themselves in jail.
Chairman of NIPR in Rivers State, Paulinus Nsirim gave the threat at an event to celebrate the 2023 World Public Relations Day held at the Rivers State University, Port Harcourt.
Nsirim said practicing public relations without requisite certification is an offence in Nigeria.
He warned anybody in the practice to either get certified or go to jail.
“Very soon, our Ethics and Disciplinary Committee would swing into action because the Public Relations Decree of 1990 makes it a criminal offence to practice public relations without certification and that law provides for imprisonment of not more than two years or a fine or both for offenders.
“So anybody who is involved in public relations in Rivers State and is not a certified practitioner may likely go to jail when the Ethics and Disciplinary Committee of the Council swings into action.
“We are going to ensure that only those that have the requisite certification practices public relations in Rivers State so anybody who is a non-practitioner and is in the practice, you either certify or go to jail,” he warned.
Nsirim said the council has done a lot of sensitisation and advocacy visits to let people know the need to be certified.
He noted that it’s in the interest of organisations and agencies to have experts as their public relations managers.
On the importance of the day, the Rivers NIPR chairman said, “For us as public relations practitioners, this day is very significant as we want to showcase public relations to the world because a lot of people don’t understand the power of public relations in an organisation. So this activity today would help to sensitize the public, galvanise support for people to embrace public relations”.
He added: “Like you know, public relations help in reputation management, brand management, crisis management and stakeholder relationship management.
Nsirim insisted that any organisation that wants to thrive or make progress in achieving set objectives should have professional public relations expert to harness and manage the image of that organisation.
In his address, the Vice Chancellor of RSU, Professor Nlerum Okgbule who was represented by the Deputy Vice Chancellor Academics, Professor Valentine Omubo-Pepple said the school is committed to producing responsible graduates who will contribute positively to the society.
He urged students of the Department of Advertising and Public Relations to take their studies seriously as their role in any organisation is very important.
The guest lecturer, Dr. Jossy Nkwocha while delivering his paper said the day gives public relations practitioners an opportunity to be reminded of the power of public relations and to utilise it for the betterment of the society.
In a goodwill message, a former president of NIPR, Amaoupusenibo Bobo Sofiri-Brown commended the organisers of the programme and the university.
He suggested that the school and NIPR Rivers should collaborate to design a project that would make Rivers State become number one in PR practice and in all disciplines that would require learning.
