NIPR vows to sanction illegal practitioners

President of the NIPR, Mukhtar Sirajo

The Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) Thursday said it will work with the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) to sanction individuals practising public relations in the country without a license.

President of the institute, Mukhtar Sirajo, disclosed this at the special induction ceremony of students and staff of the Institute of Development Communication (ISDEVCOM), Nasarawa State University, during its 3rd International Conference on Communication and Development in Africa with the theme, ‘Strategic Security and Health Communication for Sustainable Development.’

Sirajo who commended the newly inducted members for escaping the wrath of NIPR said up until their induction, they were amongst illegal practitioners even if amongst the best and most experienced in the field of public relations.

He said: “You were practising illegally. I want to congratulate you for escaping the hammer that actually was just about to fall.

“The law actually mandates the Attorney General of the Federation to establish a Tribunal to try those found practising public relations without licensing by the institute. We are actually very soon having a courtesy call on the attorney general where we want to remind him of that very huge responsibility and we want to believe that very shortly that tribunal is going to be set up.”

Sirajo, however, warned the inducted Associates to conduct themselves but most importantly, be good ambassadors of the Institute bearing in mind public relations was a profession bothering on relationship building.

“We don’t want walls in relationships. So, please try and see that you help in actually repairing, in fixing the failed relationships that now exist in this country. Let’s try and recreate that Nigeria that a lot of us grew up in that was blind to religion, blind to ethnicity.”

In his remark, the Vice-Chancellor, Nasarawa State University Keffi (NSUK), Prof. Suleiman Bala Usman, congratulated the newly inducted members from “transitioning from quackery to professionals.”

“We are happy that a lot of you are members of the university which means the university is on the right track, the students we are training are professionals, the image of the university will be adequately projected. I think we now expect that you are going to be the face of public relations of the university,” he said.

The Vice-Chancellor, who gave assurances on the Institute’s capacity to repair broken relationships, which according to him have been manipulated and politicized by “selfish elites,” said there was the possibility to correct the existing anomaly and ensure the country returns back to the path of sanity.

“We’re living in a country now that conflict entrepreneurs, ethnic chauvinists, religious bigots are trying to turn the country upside down. But this country belongs to all of us and we are not going to allow that to happen,” he added.

YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE HEADLINES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE

We Have Not Had Water Supply In Months ― Abeokuta Residents

In spite of the huge investment in the water sector by the government and international organisations, water scarcity has grown to become a perennial nightmare for residents of Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital. This report x-rays the lives and experiences of residents in getting clean, potable and affordable water amidst the surge of COVID-19 cases in the state.