By Victoria Onehi
The National Orientation Agency (NOA) has expressed its willingness to partner the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) in its key programmes aimed at reviving the country’s reputation for socio-political and economic advancement.
Speaking at a courtesy visit to the Agency in Abuja, the NIPR President, Dr. Ike Neliaku,fnipr said that NIPR has deliberately designed viable programmes to reclaim the nation’s dwindling reputation, assuring that the Institute is ready to partner with relevant organisations to create a new narrative for Nigeria.
The NIPR President who sought the partnership of the NOA in the forthcoming maiden edition of the National Spokespersons Summit, pointed out that the programme is part of strategies towards building the capacity of spokespersons that will emplace the culture of development communication.
“We realised that in the course of nation-building, narratives are critical. If you don’t design your narratives, the opposition will design narratives and impose on you. We now have a situation where everybody talks from his own perspective, which has encouraged prevalence of violent communication. We must find a way to deconstruct the concept of violent communication and reconstruct the kind of communication that is meant for development”, he said.
In a statement by the Director, Public Relations of the Institute,Stanley Ogadigo, fnipr, the NIPR President emphasised that the REBIRTH initiative of the Institute is aimed at value re-orientation that would entrench deep sense of patriotism among Nigerians, saying that the acronym, REBIRTH, stands for Reinventing the Essence, Beauty, Integrity, Resourcefulness, Tradition and Heritage of Nigeria.
On his part, the Director General of National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mr. Lanre Issa-Onilu while expressing gratitude to the delegation described NOA as a public relations organization that can achieve a lot for the country in partnership with the NIPR.
He said NIPR is well positioned to be the first body the NOA could rely on in delivering its mandate.
“We would ensure that we work together on all of issues, not as in someone leading and another following, but we will do an assessment, put everything on the table, harmonize the ones we need to harmonize and roll out together and deliver for the country”, he assured.
Mr. Issa-Onilu emphasized that the issue of reputation is very germane to the policies and programmes of the President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope agenda, noting that nothing can be achieved without genuine attitudinal change.
