Assessing Public Relations practice in Nigeria

As the business world becomes more competitive, companies typically want to have something that makes them stand out from the crowd, something that makes them more appealing and interesting to both members of the public and the media. A favourable image can help increase a company’s sales and negative publicity can damage a company’s reputation and decrease sales. Every organisation, no matter how large or small, ultimately depends on its reputation for survival and success. This is where the practice of public relations (PR) steps in.

At its best, PR not only tells an organisation’s story to its publics, it also helps to shape the organisation and the way it works. PR is about reputation – the result of what you do, what you say and what others say about you. It is the discipline which looks after reputation, with the aim of earning understanding and support and influencing opinion and behaviour. Though this practice is still novel and evolving in Nigeria, the crux of this report is to access public relations in Nigeria and proffer solutions that will better the lot of the practice in Nigeria.

Slow growth

Public Relations practice in Nigeria has evolved over the past few decades as many organisations, both in the public and the private sector, have come to appreciate the potency of PR in their quest to win and retain mutual understanding and goodwill with their publics. Practitioners are doing their best to entrench PR practice as a very important aspect of marketing communication. However, there is still a lot needed to be done to ensure that PR is recognised and accepted as a key management function. Industry experts spoke to Telegraph on the issue.

According to Bolaji Abimbola, a PR expert with Indigo Communications, the practice of public relations seems to be gaining recognition in this part of the world with several PR firms springing up and many organisations setting up in-house PR Departments.

“It may be unfair to juxtapose the PR practice in Nigeria with that of developed nations because they started a long way back and the society has fully embraced the practice and given it the desired attention,” he said. “First, the practitioners over there are well respected and are given the free hand to make recommendations on how best to deploy PR tools to achieve a set goal or solve a problem, unlike here where the client is ‘king’ and most times dictates what to be done.

While PR practice in the developed world is preventive and proactive in nature, the practice here to a large extent is still curative and reactive. Also PR practice in Nigeria still relies largely on the traditional media, the developed world has moved on to the new/social media. Another key issue confronting PR practice in Nigeria is the incursion of charlatans into the profession. Every other person claims to be a PR guru without acquiring the requisite academic qualifications, trainings and experience.”

For Adeola Odunowo, the managing director, Curve Communications, the practice of PR in Nigeria is still growing compared to the developed countries because our society is not information driven.

“Very few companies or individuals in Nigeria rely on the expertise of PR professionals and there is that tendency to always undermine the relevance and impact of information in business,” he said. “Real-time information advisory offered by PR companies is the foundation of social and economic developments in the western world. The competitive business environment of the advanced world leads to improved standards in PR practice, while foreign affiliations remain the yardstick for success in Nigeria.”

Lax regulation

Assessing PR practice in Nigeria, Yomi Badejo, managing director, CMC Connect, said the practice does not command the respect it deserves as it is now viewed as an all comers affair.

“From its advent with the colonial produce trading companies to the establishment of NIPR (Nigerian Institute of Public Relations) in 1963 by Sam Epelle, to NIPR being chartered by Decree 16 of 1990, to the first fully fledged PR consulting firm being established in 1991, the journey of PR in Nigeria has been a most challenging one,” he said.
“In my opinion, we may have started well but we lost it along the way. Today, it has failed to command the kind of respect it ought to have as a effective management discipline and function. PR in Nigeria is an all-comers affair where those that cannot find room elsewhere in our organisations are dumped. Even though we have the NIPR, our ‘professional borders’ are too porous as we have not policed them effectively. Too many charlatans are going around parading themselves as PR practitioners without the requisite experience and knowledge and we have been unable to check their incursions.
Mr Badejo further criticised practitioners of failing to apply some of the profession’s own medicine to itself. “For a profession that positions others, we have failed to do same for ourselves,” he said. “That has cost a lot in terms of value-determination. Most people cannot tell the difference between PR, media and advertising. This mix up has profoundly robbed us of distinctive recognition.”

Way out of the woods

Following the afore-mentioned challenges, industry experts say that a lot of work needs to be done to reposition the practice of PR in Nigeria; so as to be able to effectively leverage and also contribute to the nation’s growing economy.

Mr Abimbola said that to bring PR practice to international standards, practitioners need exposure to global new thinking and trends in PR practice and embrace same to be able to compete favourably with their counterparts in other developed nations.

“There is also the need to bridge the knowledge gap by encouraging exchange programmes among practitioners,” he said. “Practitioners also need to find a way to educate their clients to embrace the international standards and demonstrate to them in concrete terms the value (ROI) that PR brings to the table. Meanwhile, it must be noted that in adopting what we regard as international standards, we must also evaluate the suitability and acceptability with our society in terms of our culture and mentality.”

On his part, Mr Odunowo suggested that PR professionals in Nigeria should think local and act global in the 21st century and beyond.

“PR companies in Nigeria need to start thinking of concepts and activities that will cause a paradigm shift in the global framework,” he said. “There is a need for more collaborations and partnerships among indigenous firms, along with substantial investments in human capacity development. Above all, we need to initiate a new billing system which is directly proportional to the number of consultancy hours a PR professional contributes to a business.”
For Mr Badejo, a strong enforcement of PR regulations will go a long way in repositioning the PR profession.

“Strongly enforce regulation like APCON is doing and embark on an enlightening campaign to position the practice,” he advised. “I would also encourage specialisation as a means of deepening practice and finally insist on more research, measurement and evaluation as what cannot be measured cannot be valued.”

Leading PR firms in Nigeria

• Alder Consulting
• Bifocal Communications Limited
• CMC Connect
• C&F Porter Novelli
• Curve Communications Limited
• Image Consultants Limited
• Indigo Communications
• JSP Corporate Communications Limited
• Lintas Nigeria Limited
• Logicomm Network Limited
• MediaCraft Associates
• MediaMark Limited
• Pulse Marketing Communications
• Sesema PR
• Synergy Consulting
• Tanus Communications Limited
• Team Credit Nigeria Limited
• The Quadrant Company
• TPT International Limited
• XLR8

Historical tit bits

• PR practice started in Nigeria in the early 1940s as a result of World War II. Nigeria, which was then a British colony, participated in the execution of the war. The colonial government created a Special Information Centre (SIC) to create better understanding between the colonialists and the colonised Nigerians about their involvement in the war.

• The SIC later metamorphosed into the Public Relations Department in 1944, when Nigerians were employed to manage it for better and further information dissemination.

• In the private sector, the first company to establish a public relations department was the United African Company (UAC). The unit was known in 1949 as Information Department.

• The Nigerian Railways Corporation also established its own unit in 1956 where Dr. Sam Opelle served as the first public relations officer.

• The Shell Petroleum Development Company, then BP, created its own outfit in 1969.