By Olatunde Dodondawa
The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina has congratulated the Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of the NNPC, Dr. Kennie Obateru on his recent Fellowship Award, describing him as an accomplished professional in the field of Public Relations.
Adesina who was a special guest at a reception organized by the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), FCT Chapter in honour of its new five Council Members and nine Fellows of the Institute said the current membership status would spur him to achieve more in his career.
“Obateru is an accomplished professional. Now that he has become a Fellow of the NIPR, he can only get better. He is an old wine that is very tasty and now that he is a Fellow, he can just be tastier” he stated.
Speaking earlier at the function on behalf of the new Fellows, Dr. Kennie Obateru, said the erroneous perception e of Public Relations as cost centre by organizational leaders could be changed by practitioners through development of strategies to measure impact of Public Relations activities.
The NNPC spokesman condemned the prevailing situation where those who have no business in reputation management occupy positions meant for registered PR practitioners in various organizations in the country.
“We are ready to work with Institute’s leadership to ensure that the provisions of Decree No. 16 of 1990 that set up the Institute are enforced to rid the profession of quackery”.
The event was attended by the President and Chairman of Governing Council of the Institute, Mallam Mukhtar Sirajo, Chief Executive Officers of government establishments, Spokesmen of various organization, senior professional colleagues, among others.
