President and Chairman of Council of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, Malam Mukhtar Sirajo, says secession will not be in the interest of the country.
Sirajo blamed government’s failure to acknowledge the role of proper communication in dousing ethnic tension, which is the core duty of the NIPR, for the aggravating agitation for secession in some parts of the country.
The NIPR President stated this while speaking on the sidelines of the combined Sixth Convocation Ceremony for the graduands of NIPR Professional Certificate and Diploma Programmes held in Lagos.
He expressed regret that relationship between the various ethnic nationalities in Nigeria has become “frail.”
Sirajo said agitation for secession would have been nipped in the bud if the government had engaged the services of NIPR to communicate effectively to all ethnic nationalities.
He called for a more united country, saying secession would not be in the interest of anyone or group of persons.
Provost of the Nigerian Institute of Journalism, Mr. Gbenga Adefaye, who was the chairman at the convocation ceremony, said the present moment required intelligent, skilled, strategic thinkers as professional perception managers in public and private sectors to tackle the challenges of nation building.
No fewer than 259 persons graduated in the two programmes with the NIPR charging them to project the integrity of the profession and be good ambassadors of the country.
NIPR also inducted 56 new members who have now become professional PR practitioners in addition to the 122 inducted virtually on Thursday March 25.