• Comrade Ini Ememobong, Commissioner for Information, Akwa Ibom State
…as Ike Neliaku becomes Institute’s President
By Imaobong Koffi-Bassey
The Commissioner for Information, Akwa Ibom State, Comrade Ini Ememobong, has been elected as a member of the governing council of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR).
Out of the 1,050 accredited voters, the Akwa Ibom State Commissioner polled a total of 867 votes to emerge the governing council member.
Ini Ememobong is a lawyer, linguist, a thoroughbred PR expert, political strategist, conflict analyst, chartered mediator and conciliator, community development enthusiast, author, and former state publicity secretary of Peoples Democratic Party in Akwa Ibom State.
Declaring the winners at the end of the elections which was conducted after the annual general meeting/conference of the NIPR tagged Abuja 2023, with the theme: “Leadership, Public Relations and Value Creation,” the chairman of the electoral committee, Chief Casca Ogosu said this year’s election was Keenly contested adding that the turn out was very impressive
He, however, congratulated the winners disclosing that 28 candidates contested for the 17 council membership offices.
He also urged them to use their wealth of experience to add value to the body so that they can leave it better than they met it.
He said, “I congratulate all the winners of the 2023 NIPR elections for various offices. I encourage you to bring your experience to bear for the growth of NIPR.
“Initially, 29 persons indicated interest for the election but one person withdrew along the line thereby making the number of contestants 28“.
The election which was held between Thursday and Friday morning saw Dr Sule Yay Sule getting the highest votes of 868.
Meanwhile, members of the Governing Council of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), have unanimously elected Dr. Ike Neliaku unopposed as its new President at the end of the Institute’s Annual General Meeting in Abuja.
A communication scholar, Professor Emmanuel Dandaura, is also to serve as the Vice President of the institute.
Chairman Electoral Committee, Chief Casca Ogusu made the announcement at the occasion.
Spokesperson’s Digest, a publication of PRNigeria reports that the 17 Members of the Governing Council of the Institute were earlier elected by registered members at the AGM of the institute
The Institute is run by a 22-member Governing Council made up of 17 elected members and 5 nominees of the Federal Government.
The President and Vice President, who double as Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Governing Council are to serve for a tenure of two years.
The major contenders for the Presidency of the institute were Dr. Ike Neliaku of FCT Chapter and Mrs. Nkechi Ali-Balogun of Lagos Chapter Chairman who could not make it to the council.
In his acceptance speech, Neliaku said the new council members would use the NIPR platform to chart a new path for the institute, and also re-invent Nigeria.
He said: “Our profession needs a new dimension. We’ll make sure PR is practiced by PR Professionals. We won’t allow our ‘break fast’ to be taken by people that are not trained.
“We’ll take the issue of compliance and enforcement seriously, reinvent our profession for the purpose and the value of the nation.
“Countries that understand the value of Public Relations always excel, so therefore we are going to rebrand Nigeria.
“As we have our colleague as Minister of Information, who understands strategic communications. We’ll work with him to generate new ideas with the support of my team.
“I want to assure that with our collective efforts, we can rewrite, reinvent, and review our profession for better in this new dawn,” he concluded.
