It is a new dawn for the Public Relations Consultants Association of Nigeria (PRCAN) as Dr Phil Osagie has emerged President to step into the shoes of Mr Nn’emeka Maduegbuna who had led the professional association in the last eight years.

Also elected during the recent Annual General Meeting in Lagos were Mr Chido Nwakanma, Vice President; Mr John Ehiguese, Hon Secretary-General; Mr Muyiwa Akintunde, Assistant Secretary-General; while Maduegbuna remains in the Executive Council as Ex-Officio by virtue of his being the immediate past President.

The new Executive Council has been mandated to fill the vacant positions of Publicity Secretary, Hon. Treasurer and one Ex-Officio member.

Dr Phil Osagie, the new PRCAN President, is the Head Strategist of JSP Communications. Mr Nwakanma, who is the CEO of Blueflower Limited, served as PRCAN Treasurer until his election as Vice President. Ehiguese is the CEO of Mediacraft Associates, while Akintunde is the Executive Director of MarketingMix Limited. Maduegbuna is the Chairman/CEO of C&F Porter Novelli.

The well organised election, which formed an aspect of the association’s Annual General Meeting held at De Renaissance Hotel, Ikeja, was conducted by a two-man team comprising Mike Obiajulu Meze, CEO of Winning Concept, and Bolaji Okusaga, Lead Consultant, The Quadrant Company.

In his presentation to the AGM, Maduegbuna highlighted the milestones of the last eight years which included capacity development, affiliation with relevant international groups and publication of the association’s journal.

Members commended Maduegbuna for committing his resources and time to establish a solid foundation for the growth of the association.

In his acceptance speech, Dr Phil Osagie, commended the sacrifice and giant strides of the immediate past executive council. He pledged to build on that solid foundation. He further said: “We will develop and execute the existing fantastic ideas initiated by the immediate executive. We will take our time and articulate a strategy and vision that will raise the standard and image of the association.

“The priority will be to enhance the visibility and stature of PRCAN as well as deepen the intellectual base of its members. In this new knowledge economy, public relations consultants must be at the cutting edge of knowledge and new learning, so they can be better positioned to apply creative and well thought out solutions to their clients”

He then encouraged members to demonstrate more commitment in the drive to take PRCAN to a higher level.

A Communiquer Issued at the end of the 23rd All Africa Public Relations Conference at the International Contrence Centre, Abuja Nigeria from May 18 - 20, 2010

The 23rd Africa Public Relations Conference held at the International Conference Centre, Abuja, Nigeria from May 18 – 20, 2010 under the theme Public Relations and Corporate Governance in Africa”  resolved as follows:

1.     a letter of condolence and a congratulato0ry message be written to the President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on the death of President Umaru Musa Yar’adua and his own assumption of office.

2.     recognizing the challenges of corporate governance, especially as posed by recent turbulence in several business sectors, effective communication should underpin the strategy of public information management by African governments, businesses and civil societies to avoid disruption in the African economy;

3.     in furtherance of an enabling environment for effective corporate governance, African governments, businesses and civil societies must institute appropriate and adequate mechanisms and interventions that promote transparency, accountability and honesty.

4.     practitioners should apply high level honesty in the execution of corporate governance;

5.     african governments, businesses and civil societies must take cognizance of the relevance of positive values of our culture as against corrupt practices and encourage the use of African culturally engineered knowledge to design corporate governance templates on the continent;

6.     recognizing the centrality of communication management function in corporate governance, African public relations practitioners and their national professional bodies should accelerate and institutionalize Continuing Professional and Personal Development

7.     all employers of public relations practitioners should provide and ensure human and material resources that are necessary for the effective functioning of public relations;

DATE ABUJA, NIGERIA THIS 20TH DAY OF MAY, 2010

KATE BAPELA, FPRI, SA                                    DR. WOLE ADAMOLEKUN, FNIPR
PRESIDENT, APRA.                                            SECRETARY-GENERAL, APRA.