NIPR Cautions Security Chiefs against Appointments of Unqualified Spokespersons
The Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, NIPR, has again reiterated its stance against the appointment of unlicensed and unregistered professionals as spokespersons especially for the country’s security services.
This was contained in a memo dispatched to security chiefs on Friday .
The Institute disclosed that its recently- inaugurated NIPR Act Enforcement and Compliance Committee will aggressively drive the process of identifying organisations and individuals operating in contravention of the law and ensure they are duly prosecuted.
The memo, signed by Dr. Ike Neliaku, President and Chairman of the NIPR Governing Council and Major General Chris Olukolade (rtd), Chairman, NIPR Compliance and Enforcement Committee; was titled: “Caution Against Contravention of the Law on Appointment of Public Relations Practitioners and Allied Positions in Government Establishments”.
It was gathered that apart from para military and security services, the memo was also addressed to military General Christopher Musa, the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS); Lt-General Taoreed Lagbaja,
Chief of Army Staff (COAS); Air Marshal Hassan Abubakar, the Chief of Air Staff (CAS) and Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla, the Chief of Naval Staff (CNS).
Part of the memo reads: “In line with our commitment to uphold professionalism and excellence, we offer you our partnership and support towards building and sustaining an enviable reputation and image for you and your organization.
“Accordingly, we strongly encourage you to align your operations with provisions of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) Practitioners Act of 1990 now Cap N114 Laws of the Federation 2004.
“Section 19 (2) of the NIPR Act which states that, ‘If, …any person who is not a member of the Institute practises or holds himself out to practise as a public relations practitioner for or in expectation of reward, or takes or uses any name, title, addition or description implying that he is in practice as a public relations practitioner, he shall be guilty of an offence ….’
