22 October 2008
Lagos — Chairman, House of Re-presentatives Committee on Education, Hon. Farouk Lawan, was weekend conferred with the excellence and preservation of True Democratic Culture in Nigeria award by the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR).
Speaking during the ceremony, the Kano State Chapter chairman of the NIPR, Mallam Abubakar Gotomo, explained that they had been following the activities of the Hon. Lawan and found out that he was the most qualified person to take this significant medal.
Gotomo clarified some misconceptions commonly associated with the practice of public Relations as a profession, expressing dismay at the wrong impression held by many that the job was mainly to give money or silence the fact if it did not favour one.
He regretted that public relations was commonly used among many people in an attempt to legalise the illegality particularly in the people who are working in public and corporate sectors, "lamenting that the word PR is commonly applied to make black-white, evil-saint to make bad-look good'.
He said the job of public relations made multinational corporations what they were not bribe as obtained in the Nigerian case, stressing that if it did not stop, it would continue to portray the PR managers as agents of bribery and corruption.
Speaking, the former Nigerian permanent representative, in the United Nation, Alhaji Maitama Sule, said the PR managers had the duty of telling their boss the plain truth about certain situations no matter what would happen and they should also be bold enough to tell them their fault where they went wrong because that was the only way they could make the leaders sit-up to their responsibilities.
Maitama Sule said PR managers should discourage the giving and take of brown envelops, while trying to sell their ideas.
Other people that were honoured with awards included Alhaji Sule Yau Sule, Director of Press to Governor, Sokoto state governor, a bank, and the Kano State Societal Reorientations.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 Daily Champion. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
