The President of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), Dr. Ike Neliaku has assured the Embassy of the United States of America (USA) of the institute’s commitment to a robust US-Nigeria relationship.
He made this known during a courtesy visit of the US Press Attache, Mr. Robert Gabor to the institute’s Office in Abuja.
The NIPR Boss who commended the diplomat for attending the body’s recent activities said public relations practice is central to diplomatic relations, stakeholders’ engagement, event management, and image building.
Dr. Neliaku who was recently elected as NIPR President said one of his missions is to ensure that corporate organizations and public institutions stop engaging “quacks” to serve as their public relations managers.
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He said “As a professional body entrusted with the responsibility of managing reputation, and relationships and regulating the practice of public relations in Nigeria, we are poised to lend our professional expertise towards sanitising the business of image management.
“We are calling on organisations to respect and comply with the law that established the NIPR by engaging registered and licensed professionals to handle their image, reputation, and manage crises,” he added.
Speaking at the meeting, Mr. Gabor congratulated Neliaku on his recent election as NIPR President and for his visionary ideas towards repositioning the Public Relations profession in the country.
He said as a Press Attache, he had attended some recent activities hosted by NIPR and was excited with what he witnessed. He then promised to partner and sustain a relationship with NIPR towards improving the US-Nigeria relationship in various sectors.
He said that at the embassy level, they deploy different channels to explain American diplomacy to the Nigerian people and the civil society groups.
“The diplomacy we do in government to government is done behind closed doors, while we also issue press releases and host press conferences for better understanding of our work here, especially on the US-Nigeria relationship.
“We hope that a relationship with NIPR as a professional body will further enhance better understanding of the existing healthy relations between our countries.
“I appreciate what you do as professionals and appreciate your organization as a partner to us. I am here to deepen the partnership,” he stated.
