Director General of the Ekiti State Bureau of Community Communications, Mary Oso-Omotosho, has said that the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) serves as the rescue corridor to control the media space.
Omotosho stated this on Tuesday in Ado-Ekiti when the Executive Members of NIPR in the State paid a courtesy visit to her.
The D-G, who corroborated the concerns of the body on the need to checkmate the activities of unregistered PR practitioners in the state regretted that the media space has been polluted.
She seized the opportunity to reiterate her commitment in joining hands to revive the body in the state while urging the executives to map out strategies and programmes towards building a formidable NIPR in Ekiti State.
Her words: “I am happy that some of the concerns I used to have are the same concerns you raised here. When NIPR becomes very active in Ekiti State, it will help checkmate the activities of media practitioners who are not registered.
“The media space is polluted already and it is my hope that NIPR will actually help in sanitizing it . Media practitioners are beginning to see that they need to be registered. NIPR is the rescue corridor for them because it has helped me too”
“In Ekiti, the NUJ and NIPR need to work together to actually help maintain professionalism in the Ekiti media space . A lot of people are interested in this profession because PR is life. Even Churches now hire PR Practitioners, every serious establishment or organization needs a PR department.”
Earlier, the Chairman of the Institute in Ekiti State, Pastor Anthony Adesua decried the high numbers of unregistered PR Practitioners in the state, particularly in government practice.
Well impressed by the good works of the DG in projecting the activities of Governor Biodun Oyebanji, the Chairman urged her to use her gpod office to champion the course for the domestication of PR department in the state’s government establishments.
He said: “What we see in Ekiti is that the majority of practitioners of Public Relations are not in private practice but in government practice. Probably that has limited their interactions with the institute. “
“Thank God for the job you are doing at the Bureau of Community Communications. If other people that are in PR practice heading one position or the other are doing the same thing or even half of what you are doing, the positive results of governance we are seeing will be doubled.
“There Council of Establishment has said that there should be a PR department in every government establishment headed by a registered member of NIPR, but in Ekiti State, that has not been domesticated. It has been in operation in some states. The government stands to benefit immensely from it if the department stands”. Said the Chairman.
Adesua equally used the occasion to solicit government support by sponsoring the NIPR members in the government service who would be travelling to Uyo, Akwa-Ibom State next month for the Annual General Meeting.
The delegation led by the Ekiti State NIPR Chairman also included; Mr. Kayode Adebusiyi – Secretary; Mr. Ayodele Abere – PR Executive; Mr. Lawrence Ibitoye – Assistant Secretary, and Mr. Emmanuel Onwusoro – member.
