We are Working on Criminalising Appointment of Non-NIPR Member as Spokespersons
By Kabir Abdulsalam
Public Relations guru and Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, (NIPR), Sule Yau Sule, has disclosed that the Institute is in discussion with the office of the Attorney General of the Federation to put in place institutional measures meant to punish public and private organisations that appoint quacks as spokespersons.
The NIPR has been in a running battle with a couple of security agencies which have been appointing non-PR practitioners as information officers.
Dr. Sule gave this hint on Wednesday in Abuja at a 2-day workshop organised by Image Merchants Promotion Ltd (IMPR) in partnership with the Wole Soyinka Center for Investigative Journalism and MacArthur Foundation for journalists to sharpen their investigative skills.
“We have written to the Minister of Justice to fully criminalise the appointment of non-members without certification by the institute or any educational training on public relations,” he said.
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On the recent appointment Commodore Adedotun Olukayode Ayo-Vaughan, as the Director of Naval Information and Spokesman of the Nigerian Navy, he said: “We have an established law, that can indict anyone who engages in services of public relations and communications without training or certification, though, that law has been silent for a long time. But we have now constituted a task force headed by Retired Major General Chris Kolade that will handle the matter.”
“They are ready to swing to action to identify and arraign all those occupying positions or who are involved in Public relations work and not registered with the Institute. Meanwhile, we have stepped up advocacy and raised an alarm for anyone who is not our member to come out for regularisation.
“We have deployed diplomacy earlier to handle the issue but it has been fruitless, we are now compiling and identifying all those occupying such positions for possible prosecution.We have given them a window of opportunity before the prosecution, we have given a certain widow to come for regularisation. Once the window closes, we start enforcement and prosecution,” he added.
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