The Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) has been charged to be in the vanguard of efforts to rebrand Nigeria which is in dire need of good governance.
To achieve this objective, NIPR must use all public relations tools available to it to drive a new narrative about the corporate project called Nigeria, Dr Obiora Okonkwo, a candidate in the November 6, governorship election in Anambra State has said.
Speaking in Asaba, Delta State, while delivering the 2021 Dr. Sam Memorial Gold Paper Lecture organised by the NIPR, Okonkwo said: “Reinventing and rebranding Nigeria is an idea that cannot wait. We must not wait to fix all our governance problems before we take on this. In fact, if well managed, initiatives like NIPR citizens’ summit can help in fixing the governance issues. However, any effort at reinventing Nigeria must be mindful of the shortcomings of previous rebranding efforts and which the likes of Mr. O. ‘Tudor have brilliantly critiqued. In this regard, I challenge the NIPR to immediately set up a committee of some of its most creative minds to work on this initiative.”
The lecture also featured the investiture of the Delta State governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, as patron of the institute. Earlier, the governor said Nigeria needed good leadership that would inspire the desired sustainable growth and development lacking in the country.
In his remarks shortly after the investiture, Okowa noted that good leadership is pivotal to whatever social change that is desired in the society. According to him, bad governance, ethno-religious conflicts and lack of faith in the electoral process were the major causes of disunity in the country, adding that the sad reality was that Nigerians seem to derive more comfort, protection and security from their ethnic identity.
The president and chairman of NIPR’s governing council, Mukhtar Sirajo, thanked the governor for hosting the institute’s annual lecture in Asaba.
While justifying the investiture of Okowa as patron of the institute, Sirajo lauded him for the massive dividends of democracy he had bequeathed to the people of the state in the last six years.
Chairman of the Delta State chapter of the institute, Patrick Ukah, said the lecture was instituted over a decade ago in honour of the late Dr. Sam Epelle, the founding father of the institute and that it has become a unique platform to drive conversation and set an agenda to resolving critical societal issues.
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