Nigerian Institute of Public Relations / Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu (NIPR/COOU) Obi Nnaemeka Achebe Annual Lecture.

Second  edition: Tuesday, October 8, 2024

Topic: Achieving  Peace and Reconciliation in Nigeria  – The  Public Relations Approach .

Lecturer: Patrick Okedinachi Utomi, Founder,  Centre for Values in Leadership

 

Mr. Chairman
Your Majesty, Agbogidi,
Your Royal Highnesses
Esteemed Fellows and members of NIPR
Ladies and Gentlemen

Let me begin by expressing my pleasure at this lecture series
in honor of a man I consider most deserving. The Obi of Onitsha, Agbogidi; Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe, who has been an outstanding leader, and a role model for me personally. He represents the ideals NIPR should be identified with.

I am here today majorly because Agbogidi made the request to give this lecture of me. I have journeyed several thousand miles from my current US base expressly for this purpose, and find that I can justify the time, trouble and expense because of who he has always been and what he has come to be in
nation building in Nigeria.

The topic which the organizers have requested that I address has proved to be an added incentive.
I am also quite pleased that the lecture series may provide a good opportunity to document the evolution of Public Relations practice in Nigeria. This is especially important because we do not usually do a good job of documenting things and chronicling history in progress. This poor habit serves future students poorly and sometimes gives room for some people to appropriate to themselves narratives that are incorrect and self-serving.

Continue reading Ofala 2024 lecture here.