By Patrick Onuoha
MTN Nigeria is willing to partner with the Public Relations Consultants Association of Nigeria (PRCAN) to grow the marketing communication sector in Nigeria and support steps to upscale the capacity of professionals in the industry.
Receiving the PRCAN leadership in her office, Omasan Ogisi, General Manager, Corporate Affairs, of MTN Nigeria, urged the body to however present its case for corporate support in good time and with the required business case.
Ogisi told the team, led by PRCAN president John Ehiguese, that MTN was pleased to associate with the PR consultancy group, which had informed its sponsorship of past events organised by the association.
“What you’re doing is very important and it is in the interest of corporate bodies that communication industry groups are supported,” Ogisi said.
Responding to Ehiguese’s statement on an international conference later in the year by PRCAN, Funso Aina, the Public Relations and Protocol Manager of MTN Nigeria suggested that PR measurement should be one of its discussion areas. He said the focus of PR consultancies should be more on outcome rather than output.
In his words: “We should be looking at measurement. How are we able to sway opinion and achieve desired outcomes that add value to the businesses we support?”
He said that when the objectives of a campaign became clear to both the client and its consultant, results would be easily benchmarked and professional charges and measurements would not be in dispute.
Ehiguese said the insights provided by the MTN team were quite useful and in tandem with PRCAN’s ongoing initiatives to upscale service offerings by its members. “We are always interested in programmes that will earn our members respect of corporate Nigeria in the business that we do.”
He believed that if more clients behaved like MTN by demonstrating respect for their agencies, service delivery in the industry would be improved. “It’s a two-way street,” he said. “If the client encourages the agencies and gives them sense of security and confidence, they will reciprocate in like manner.”
The PRCAN delegation included the Vice President, Muyiwa Akintunde and Assistant Secretary General, Tampiri Irimagha-Akemu.
PRCAN’s primary objective is to promote professional reputation management in Nigeria across both the public and private sectors. It is also committed to maintaining professional standards and discipline among members and providing facilities/professional capacity for the public and private sectors to meet their PR consultancy needs.
PRCAN is the consulting arm of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) established by the NIPR by-law No. 3 of 1993. Membership is exclusively restricted to consulting firms whose key executives must be members of NIPR and registered to practice public relations in Nigeria.
Tampiri Irimagha-Akemu, Assistant Secretary General of the Public Relations Consultants Association of Nigeria (PRCAN); Muyiwa Akintunde; Vice President PRCAN; Omasan Ogisi, General Manager Corporate Affairs, MTN Nigeria; John Ehiguese, PRCAN President; and Funso Aina, the Public Relations and Protocol Manager of MTN Nigeria shortly after PRCAN advocacy visit to MTN