BASHIR ADEFAKA
The Public Relations Manager of Crescent University, Abeokuta, Idris Katib, has enlightened members of the public on why the profession of Public Relations can be likened to Medicine and its practitioners to doctors.
Katib, who emerged as the Best PR Practitioner of the Year 2021, stated this while featuring on an Ogun State Television (OGTV) programme organised by PR Primus to review the impact of Public Relations in 2021.
According to him, “When a doctor prescribes a drug, for instance, the Artesunate combined malaria drug of 2-2-1 and it is strictly adhered to based on prescription, there will be good results. That is Public Relations.”
He explained that the performance of Public Relations in 2021 was largely dependent on whether the chief executives of organisations and heads of government agencies listened to their public relations professionals or not.
Citing the performance of public relations in the education sector as an example, Katib said PR performed excellently in some areas and badly in others in 2021.
He said it was a good public relations for Crescent University, Abeokuta, to be one of the few universities on the list that achieved 100 percent performance in their programme accreditation by the National Universities Commission (NUC).
Katib said yardsticks employed by the NUC to grade universities’ accreditation performance included quality control, academic contents, employers’ rating, physical facilities and staffing.
He further emphasised that the major yardsticks for measuring the output of any university are performance of products in employment, further studies, especially abroad and entrepreneurship, adding that Crescent University Alumni had performed excellently in all the yardsticks over the years.
Katib featured alongside two other PR experts in the sector, including the Ogun State Head of PR of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Mr Dike Ogbonaya and Mr Peter Oyeneye, who is Chief Executive Officer, Advanced Management Academy, Abuja.
A Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations and CEO of PR Primus, Mr Akin Okudero, anchored the programme.