The Head of Media Relations at the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Omoniyi Ibietan, has been elected as the secretary-general of the African Public Relations Association (APRA).
Mr Ibietan was elected at the ongoing 35th Annual Conference and Annual General Meeting in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire on Thursday.
He was elected into a three-member executive council. The other two members are Arik Karani of Kenya as president and Michele Mekeme of Cameroon as vice president.
Mr Ibietan, a fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), promised to work with other members of the executive council to continue the trajectory of reforms in APRA, expand the democratic space by encouraging greater participation of national public relations institutions on the continent and work more closely with the African Union Commission and Council of Ministers to put public relations at the heart of policy, programmes, and project implementation.
APRA, the successor to the Federation of African Public Relations Association (FAPRA), instituted in Nairobi in 1975, exists to foster the unity of Africans and their global allies through interactions and exchange of meaning.
Profile
Mr Ibietan is a journalist, writer, and author.
He earned a BA and MA in Communication Arts and Communication & Language Arts from the Universities of Uyo and Ibadan in Nigeria, respectively, graduating atop his classes.
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He also obtained a diploma in journalism with distinction from the Moscow-based International Institute of Journalism. He holds a PhD in Communication from the North-West University in South Africa, with specialisation in political communication. He is an IP3-certified regulation specialist and holds a mini MBA in telecommunications from NEOTELIS in Paris.
He has over 20 years of experience in media and communication scholarship and practice, spanning journalism, academia, policy discourse, communication strategy, regulation, and stakeholder relations
He had earlier served as special media adviser to Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Communication.
As Head of Media Relations Management at NCC, Mr Ibietan oversees aspects of the public communication strategy of the national regulatory authority for telecommunication in Nigeria.
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He is also a member of the African Council for Communication Education (ACCE), an Associate Registered Practitioner of Advertising (arpa) and a member of the International Institute of Communications (IIC), the world’s only policy debating platform for the converged communications industry.
As a scholar, he focuses on patterns of political communication through new media; media and culture studies; and theoretical & normative foundations of communication in relation to democracy and freedom.
Mr Ibietan is on the faculty of the Nigerian campus of Italy-based Rome Business School (RBS), where he teaches doctoral students PR & Advertising and Media Management & Communication Strategy. He also facilitates learning for students in the Master of Corporate Communication programme at RBS.
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