Information Minister, Mohammed Idris, Congratulates Ibietan On APRA Election, Welcomes MoU On The Creation Of Public Relations Degree-Awarding Academy

<h4>Information Minister<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that Minister of Information and National Orientation&comma; Mohammed Idris Malagi has congratulated Dr&period; Omoniyi Ibietan on his recent election as the Secretary-General of the African Public Relations Association&comma; APRA&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He also welcome <em><strong>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;the Memorandum of Understanding &lpar;MOU&rpar; signed between the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations and the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management&comma; to establish a Pr degree-awarding academy for public relations practice in Nigeria&period;”<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The minister stated&comma; in a statement he personally signed and made available to OpenLife&comma; that these fresh developments in the public relations enclave are valid tools that will continuously enable Nigeria <em><strong>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Play a leading role in strengthening and elevating public relations practice at home and across Africa&period;”<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The statement is reproduced below unedited<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>I welcome the Memorandum of Understanding &lpar;MOU&rpar; signed between the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations and the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management&comma; to establish a degree-awarding academy for public relations practice in Nigeria&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>I equally welcome the recent election of a Nigerian&comma; Dr&period; Omoniyi Ibietan&comma; as the Secretary-General of the African Public Relations Association &lpar;APRA&rpar;&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>Also worthy of note is the fact that Public Relations &lpar;PR&rpar; has now been designated as a cadre in the Federal Civil Service&comma; with effect from December 2023&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong> The Information Officer Cadre has been re-designated to &&num;8216&semi;Information and Public Relations Officer Cadre&&num;8217&semi;&comma; and the Executive Cadre to &&num;8216&semi;Executive Officer &lpar;Information and Public Relations&rpar;&&num;8217&semi;&period; <&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>The NIPR played a critical role in championing this&comma; and deserves commendation&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>Nigeria will continue to play a leading role in strengthening and elevating public relations practice at home and across Africa&period; <&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>Recently&comma; when I received the President of the African Public Relations Association&comma; Mr&period; Arik Karani&comma; he commended Nigeria in this regard&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>He said&comma; &&num;8220&semi;&lbrack;Nigeria&rsqb; was&comma; for the longest time&comma; the only country in Africa that had a law that professionalized public relations&period; <&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>It was Nigeria that started it on the continent&comma; and only last year did Zambia come out with its own law&period; So now we have two countries on the continent&comma; and only now in <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;punchng&period;com&sol;">Kenya<&sol;a>&comma; the bill for professionalizing public relations is at the second reading in Parliament&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>Encouraging remarks&period; Rest assured that the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will continue to provide the enabling environment for everybody within Nigeria&&num;8217&semi;s communications industry to thrive&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>Mohammed Idris&comma; fnipr<&sol;strong><&sol;em><br &sol;>&NewLine;<em><strong>Minister of Information and National Orientation<&sol;strong><&sol;em><br &sol;>&NewLine;<em><strong>June 29&comma; 2024<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;