In January 2019, the NIPR said based on its law, it is a criminal offence to appoint spokespersons without certification in public relations.
The Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), has said that Ajuri Ngelale, the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to President Bola Tinubu, is not qualified for the job of a spokesperson as he is not a certified member of the institute.
Checks by SaharaReporters show that the NIPR, which was established in 1963 as the professional body of qualified Public Relations Practitioners, attained charter status in 1990 with Decree 16 (now Act of the National Assembly.
The law mandates NIPR to regulate the practice and direct the development of Public Relations as a profession in Nigeria. The law also makes it illegal to practice Public Relations, under any title, in Nigeria without NIPR certification.
In January 2019, the NIPR said based on its law, it is a criminal offence to appoint spokespersons without certification in public relations.
The organisation also threatened to take legal action against public and private organisations that failed to appoint public relations professionals as spokespersons.
A statement by the institute noted that there were skills to acquire before a person could function optimally as a spokesperson.
Quoting Muhktar Sirajo, the then NIPR President, the statement read: “There are laid down rules about appointing spokespersons; the law establishing NIPR makes it a criminal offence for anybody to practise public relations by whatever name without certification or licensed by NIPR.
“There are set parameters of knowledge you need to acquire before you can practice public relations. The law actually provides for imprisonment, fine, or both.
“Unfortunately, the government too does not come clean in respect of this. Most of the people government appoints to be spokespersons are in violation of this very important creed.
“The government is either unaware of, or has forgotten that there is a law that says you cannot practice Public Relations, PR, without licence from the NIPR. In essence, the government too cannot appoint a spokesperson if that person is not licensed by the NIPR.”
Therefore, speaking on Ngelale’s qualification as a public relations officer in accordance with the law, one of the newly elected governing council members of NIPR under the leadership of Dr. Ike Neliaku, told PRNigeria that Ngelale, without the basic knowledge and requisite training on PR, is ordinarily not ‘fit’ to hold the position he currently occupies in the Tinubu Presidency.
One of the governing council members who reportedly spoke in confidence said, “We have checked our records and membership register and we could not find Ajuri Ngelale in the list. One can be a good writer, broadcaster or journalist but there are set parameters of knowledge a communicator needs to acquire including qualification before he/she can practice Public Relations in Nigeria.
“The law establishing NIPR provides laid-down rules about appointing spokespersons which also makes it a criminal offence for anybody to practice Public Relations by whatever name without certification by the Institute.
“In fact, the NIPR act stipulates punishment for illegal practice including imprisonment, fine, or both.”
This comes after the presidential spokesperson goofed in his recent official statements where he claimed that President Tinubu was the first African leader to ring the bell at the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ), during his visit to New York, United States.
Ngelale had also claimed that the United Arab Emirates had lifted the visa ban on Nigerians after a bilateral meeting between President Tinubu and UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Meanwhile, the Presidency later admitted that it goofed by issuing a corrigendum on Friday, saying, “We inadvertently referred to President Bola Tinubu as the first African leader to ring the bell at NASDAQ on Wednesday in New York, based on the information provided by a third-party event organiser.
“We have since found out that this information was/is incorrect as a former African leader has indeed had the privilege.
“This error is sincerely regretted.”