Experts at this year’s annual general meeting of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Chapter, in Abuja, have called on media practitioners to imbibe the culture of promoting Nigeria’s positive values within and outside the country.

The participants, who spoke, on Wednesday, lamented that over the years, the country’s image has witnessed image-related challenges which to a large extent, has put citizens on a negative spot within global circles.

Chairman of the NIPR, Ohaeri Osondu, who said it is against the backdrop that the institute chose the theme of the conference, “Redefining Nigeria’s Image: The Role of Public Relations,” said it was disheartening that much of the country’s progress and achievements have been clouded and damaged by sheer weight of bad publicity and erroneous impression by the acts and actions of few individuals, corporate organisations and public officers.

Quoting former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s statement, Osondu pointed out that “the image of our country has been battered at home and abroad more by our own mishandling and mismanagement than by anything else.”

“We should strive to promote and project more of positives than negative fall-outs from our country. If we fail to report ourselves appropriately, we should not expect otherwise from the foreign media,” he urged.

Also speaking, Director of Defence Information, Brigadier-General Chris Olukolade, who is also a fellow of the institute, said media practitioners should do their job conscientiously and given the best that they could to the country.

“We believe we have enough in this country to project the nation. And by the way, you will realise that the Nigeria Armed Forces, by virtue of its participation in various foreign missions, has been able to project the nation’s image. Most people who contact this country, apart from football, have been through contact with Nigerian military outside the nation. And that, in itself, has been an opportunity to project the competence of Nigeria in global security,” he said.

The Chairman and Publisher of Blue Print Newspaper, Mohammed Idris, decried those who equate honorarium with public relations, saying “PR is not about ‘brown envelops’. Giving ‘brown envelops’ or ‘kola’ or taking bribe is not public relations.”

http://telegraphng.com/2013/11/journalists-charged-promotion-nigerias-image/