From Tony John, Port Harcourt
Rivers State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Paulinus Nsirim, has said right-thinking Nigerians know the country is presently at crossroads.
Nsirim, who declared this at Masterclass event of the Nigeria Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), in Port Harcourt, urged the practitioners not to leave the political process in hands of leadership that have nothing to offer.
He also called on the public relations professionals to rise to their onus, stressing that Nigeria is in dire needs of leaders to delivers the country from political quagmire.
Nsirim said: “Every right-thinking Nigerian understands that this country is at crossroads. And we cannot afford to leave our political process in the hands of those who don’t have what it takes to offer us quality service it takes to bring us out of political quagmire.
“So, today’s event will position you and I, not just to interrogate the political process, but to get the political gladiators to appreciate what it means to govern, what it means to lead.
“And looking at the current Electoral Acts, we believe when public relations professionals get themselves actively involved in the political process, it’s likely to have a credible fair election that would produce for Nigeria, patriotic leaders, who have the passion to give us quality service.”
The commissioner, who is also the state chairman of NIPR, admonished public relations professionals to tap from the reservoir knowledge of the lead facilitator, Yomi Bodejo-Ogunsanya.
“Let me say that this Masterclass by our assessment will position public relations professionals in Rivers State. We have found out, over the years, that public relations professionals just sit on the fence and watch the political process without being active participants professionally speaking.
“So, today, now that we are building the foundation of the last Masterclass, where we believe strongly that a good number of us now know how to own a public relations firms, this particular Masterclass will give the requisite skills to be part of political process and electioneering in Nigeria.
“What we want to achieve is that you will be equipped with those skills that average politician would want to employ your services. If you don’t have a skill to offer, nobody will request for your service.
“We believe at the end of this programme, expressing optimism that at the end of the programme, the participants would be properly equipped to assist politicians in communicating that social contract plants with people of Nigeria.