UI Don Makes Case For Public Relations Professionals

Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture

Gbenro Adesina/Ibadan

A communication expert, Dr Bisi Olawuyi of the Department of Communication and Language Arts, University of Ibadan, UI, has advocated that the principles of public relations, should be deployed as an integrative tool for effective governance in Nigeria.

Olawuyi, however, stated that this could only be achieved when the PR professionals who work for government as consultants and those who discharge PR functions in-house come to leverage the 21st century understanding of the role and definition of public relations.

According to him, PR is to provide a new level of leadership for management, to integrate relationships inside as well as outside an organisation, using a wide range of management strategies and tactics including communication.

Speaking at the Quarterly Lecture of the Oyo State Branch of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, NIPR, held at the Banquet Hall, Premier Hotel, Ibadan, Olawuyi, who delivered a lecture titled, Public Relations in/and for Governance: Towards an Integrative Relational Approach, noted that within the context of government, the organisation of PR should be one that engenders government-citizen engagement.

The don frowned at the misrepresentation of what PR really is, as it has been referred to differently as: Spin, Publicity, Gin and Tonic, Hype and Propaganda. He said this maze of confusion as to exactly what PR is, or what PR people do has increasingly undermined the strategic relevance of the profession.

According to him, it is pertinent to note that the professional competence of PR practitioner to describe, explain, and predict the societal pressures on government and its institutions provides them with a risk assessment and interpretation necessary to make informed policy pronouncement and seek understanding and cooperation from citizens.

Lamenting the ineffective force of public relations at making significant contributions within the Nigerian space, Olawuyi said: “The nature of public relations practice in and for government in Nigeria is one that reveals domineering influence of political actors. One in which the practitioner is unquestionably beholden to his patron and so acts as his ‘master’s voice.’ He takes and carries out orders, even when he knows that such could erode confidence among the people because he considers his appointment as a rare privilege that should not slip, all in the name of trying to be more catholic than the pope. A PR practitioner who is caught in the web of “survival” would always pander to the whims of his principal without raising concerns about the implications of such actions, whether rightly or wrongly. It is not surprising, therefore, that public relations in and for governance has been largely, in its crudest form, media relations”.

Speaking further, Olawuyi said: “For public relations to impact governance, relationship integration must occur at four critical levels: integration of relationship with various stakeholders, the integration of management functions, the integration of corporate and organisational structures, and finally the integration with society. The underutilisation of the fundamental principles of public relations in driving governance has not only led to the increasing erosion of public confidence in government and its institutions, it has also undermined its capacity to mobilise citizens on issues of national consensus”.

Making a case for an integrative relational approach to governance, Olawuyi pointed out that the leadership role of public relations in this era would be measured by how effectively professionals have been able to achieve the integration of various actors from the macro level of interaction with society to a more micro level of individual stakeholders in a complex society like Nigeria.

“This arduous responsibility requires that the consummate professional exhibits a range of attributes such as leadership, smart and innovative thinking, uncommon courage, technical competence, futuristic, out-of-the-box strategy, exit advocacy option, and deployment of influence resources. Without these qualities, the professional may succeed at getting a seat at the table, but may never find his voice”, he added