Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano State has directed the state Ministry of Information to facilitate the registration of Information Officers in the state Civil Service as members of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations.
Ganduje further directed the Ministry to ensure the training of Information Officers to keep them abreast of emerging trends in Public Relations practice and to consolidate their career development.
The governor gave the directive in a speech shortly after his investiture as the Patron of NIPR at the State Executive Council Chambers at the Government House in Kano.
He said: “Public Relations is a very important profession. Regardless of of how far any government is moving in serving the people, the society does not get to appreciate what is actually going on without PR practitioners.”
Governor Ganduje therefore urged PR practitioners in Kano to pay more attention to professional ethics, stressing that the government would continue to support them.
He expressed appreciation to the institute for honoring him and acknowledging the effort of his administration in positively changing the lives of the people of Kano.
In his remarks, the National President of the NIPR, Dr. Rotimi Oladele, who was represented by his deputy, Alhaji Mukhtari Z. Surajo, explained that the institute is the professional body of qualified Public Relations Practitioners, attained charter status in 1990 with Decree 16 now Act of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
According to Oladele, the law mandates NIPR to regulate the practice and direct the development of Public Relations as a profession in Nigeria, stressing that it is illegal to practice Public Relations in the country without the institutes’ certification.
He, therefore, advised the state government to ensure that all its Public Relations personnel are duly accredited, even as he acknowledge effort of the state government to assist in re-certifying civil servants who are existing members of the institute.
On the investiture of Governor Ganduje as patron of the Institute, the NIPR President said it was based on his service to the people of the state as well as his determination to promote public relations practice.
