The Nation Newspaper

Tag: professionalism

  • RATTAWU urges members on professionalism

    RATTAWU urges members on professionalism

    The Radio Television, Theatre and Arts Workers’ Union (RATTAWU) has called on media houses in the country to avoid being card-carrying members of any of the political parties ahead the 2015 general elections to safeguard the integrity of the profession.

    The union in a communiqué signed by its National President, Comrade Yemisi Bamgbose at the end of a capacity workshop organised for the broadcast professionals in the Northeast states and Northwest ,called on broadcast stations in the country to adhere to their civic responsibility of promoting election awareness and avoid speculating on election results.

    Part of the communiqué read: “Broadcast stations in the country must adhere to their civic responsibility of promoting election awareness and  avoid speculating on election results by allowing the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to authenticate and formally announce results using both audio and visual evidences”.

    Participants also called on media organisations and broadcast professionals to adhere to  INEC election guidelines and the National Broadcasting Code in their operations by ensuring balanced reportage on all political issues to ensure fairness and avoid sentiments or biases.

    While participants identified misconceptions and distrust among Nigerians as major factors in conflicts, it advised media organisations at all levels to avoid making live presentations on religious programmes, they however resolved that all religious transcripts should be subjected to editing before going on air.

  • NIPR’S strategy for professionalism, sustainable democracy

    NIPR’S strategy for professionalism, sustainable democracy

    There is a plan being implemented by the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), with an eye to repositioning and rebranding the body. The intent is to claw, generously, back the past glory of the organisation.  The plan in question is predicated on ridding the profession of quacks, helping the image of Nigeria by projecting the country’s bright side to the world for a better understanding.  It’s an exercise that is taking a cue from the slogan; “Good people, Great nation”. In its effort to cleanse the profession of quacks, the NIPR intends to liaise with the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) to prosecute errant individuals, governmental organisations and multi-national corporations – in consonance with Section 19 of the NIPR Act, which “criminalises quackery, impersonation of public relations practitioner and false entry into the register of members”.

    For the president of the NIPR, Dr. Rotimi Oladele, the democratic dispensation of the Fourth Republic offers an ample opportunity of an expansive political space for some sorely-needed reflections and crafting some strategies on the way forward for the NIPR.  With more than ten thousand members, nation-wide, Oladele believes that the NIPR is well-positioned and equipped to, for instance, project the image of Nigeria in the congress of nations.

    Indeed, as Oladele said, the past 15 years – since the birth of the Fourth Republic – has been characterised, in the mass, by a plethora of less cheerful developments:  if it’s not the daily menu of corruption in high places, it’s the blood-curdling stories of kidnapping or abduction of highly visible public officers; if it’s not the Boko Haram insurgency in the north-east of the country, it’s the plucking of airplanes from the sky with attendant colossal loss of life and destruction of property; if it’s not the scorched earth policy at Odi, in Delta state – as a veritable example of impunity – it’s mindless, if flagitious, degradation of the environment – water, land and air – by oil drilling companies, and much to the destitution of the people living at the country’s treasure base; if it’s not election-related violence, it’s amongst others, disastrous explosion or destruction oil pipelines, ritual killings, vandalisation of public infrastructure, rascality on the part of elected officials, tax evasion, inexplicable falling standard of education, burgeoning youth unemployment.

    Put tersely, all manner of developments that fuel political, economic and social insecurity, such that, almost advertently, direly-required foreign direct investment (FDI) and tourism-sourced forex, which are needed for economic growth are discouraged. These negative developments could be helped, stupendously, Oladele thinks, by the NIPR.  The first assumption, in his argument, along that line, at a recent retreat, in Lagos, for state chapter Chairmen and Secretaries of the NIPR, is for every Nigerian in a leadership position to offer service and be responsive to the needs of the Nigerian nation-state on the bases of transparency and accountability, as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution (as altered).  The second is that by 2019, by which time it would have been two decades into the fourth Republic, there ought to be a new Nigerian system of good governance as a basic thrust of a sustainable democratic dispensation. The third assumption is that there’s a need for a people-focused development in the steeling of security, provision of infrastructure and eating, generously, into youth unemployment, as in Lagos state, say – in justification of tax payers’ money, the hope and confidence of the voters who were behind the coming into office of the leader who has pressed such salubrious developments, in the first place.

    And, for the NIPR, the Fourth Republic springs an auspicious tide with which it has to swim. Oladele calculates that, henceforward, the NIPR would, through painstaking and meritorious intervention, be seen as one of the major and strategic forces engaged in refurbishing Nigeria’s image as an influential power in both African and world affairs.  Besides, the NIPR would endeavour to maximise its law potentials to record some gains by giving itself a well-deserved facelift. To that end, it would embark on prosecution of  unrecognised actors on its turf, strive to improve upon recognitions accorded its practitioners, improve upon training services and research, enhance professional market share for its members, particularly in promotion to top management level in public and private sectors and active collaboration with local and international associations, like Nigerian Institute of Marketing, International Public Relations Association (IPRA), Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR), the United Kingdom, African Public Relations Association (APRA) etc.  The NIPR is desirous of regaining its firm grip on the oil and gas sector of the Nigerian economy, where, in the past, it was quite gratifying that its members were top decision-makers and the creative hands behind headline grabbing annual general meetings (AGMs). Oladele, for one, says not only is it gratifying that a fellow of the NIPR – Major-General Chris Olukolade is the Director of Information, Nigeria Defence Headquarters, but, as well, an assuring testament concerning the intent of the NIPR to rebrand itself. Equally gratifying is the trend in having state ministries of information and strategy, manned by seasoned public relations specialists with proven record of information dissemination and control, crisis management and control and applied human psychology.

    Through the Olukolades, who are captains of corporations, government agencies, chambers of commerce, industries, mines and agriculture etc. the NIPR hopes to influence government policy towards a rebranded Nigeria to use what it has to get what it needs. There might be a need to have a template, in which the country’s sports men and women, police and military officers and professionals, who have excelled in international assignments could form a a ready reserve for the shaping a new Nigerian image. It’s a long-term plan that promises to capital intensive and involve a lot of exercise in a new national orientation.

    It would need public officers – including the President, Vice-President, ministers, commissioners, permanent secretaries, members of the National and State assemblies, local government officials, representatives of political parties, the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Nigerian Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, tertiary institutions, professional organisations, market leaders, captains of quoted companies on the Nigerian Stock Exchange  (NSE) and any identified public or private body that has a public relations department or unit.  The intent is to ensure that whoever speaks for such strategic bodies, as a public relations officer, is a certified member of the NIPR. That, too, would apply to the country’s foreign missions.

    The NIPR, said Oladele, has specialised programmes that encompass effective intelligence gathering and information management that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs can buy into – even after it would have indoctrinated would-be Nigerian envoys at its Foreign Service Academy (FSA) in Badagry.  Through such a long term, capital-intensive programmes aimed at professionalism, excellence and sanitising the NIPR. The Institute believes that Nigeria’s democratic dispensation would be better for it, in that the core institutions of good governance – all three tiers of government and the press – would have been augmented, as a result, and recognised as co-pilots in the advancement of Nigeria’s democratic dispensation.

    The NIPR’s confidence, in all this, that success is certain, is freighted on the zeal and commitment being shown by Oladele in running the affairs of the institute. Indeed, a vote of confidence was cast in him during the Lagos retreat. With almost nil in the body’s purse, when Oladele assumed office, not so long ago, its activities are fast attracting public good will and financial in-flow.

    At the Lagos retreat, Oladele told participants from nearly all the states of the federation that the era of the NIPR relying on government aid was over.  A nominee at the National Conference, in Abuja, Oladele said the NIPR, under his captaincy, would strive to have as many districts, in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Abuja, for instance – as is the case with some highly visible professional bodies, like the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN).

     

    •Uzuakpundu is a Lagos-based journalist.

  • ‘Professionalism,credibility’ll revamp economy’

    Leaders and business executives have been urged to embrace professionalism and credibility as a way of revamping the country’s ailing economy.

    According to the Chief Executive Officer, Centre for Values in Leadership (CVL)  and Chairman, Poise Nigeria, Prof Pat Utomi, these qualities are important for any country’s growth.

    Utomi spoke in Lagos at a Directors Forum on “Professionalism and business sustenance – the Nigerian experience ”.

    The event has as its theme  “Executive style and leadership”.

    He said professionals and leaders should keep their promise irrespective of the economic situation, as it is one “formidable trait” they must imbibe to stay relevant.

    Utomi said:“Professionalism speaks to how capacity and character produce consistency and practical conviction about outcome, that is, performance and sustainability.”

    General Manager, Africa Lucozade Ribena Suntory, Mr Chidi Okoro, said there was need for CEOs to be focused on addressing issues that are important to staff productivity.

    He said it is the responsibility of a CEO to make the mission (values and vision) of the organisation clear to all staff.

    Okoro said when the mission is clear, the strategy would be easier, and as such effort would be better channelled because there would be consistency of purpose.

    Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of the company, Mrs Mavi Isibor, described class as an aura of confidence, a state of mind and self-discipline.

    She said it is the ability to attract others to you.

  • ‘She was a stickler for professionalism’

    ‘She was a stickler for professionalism’

    She was a stickler for professionalism. She was just one good-hearted person. She was always there to advise you, if you needed it. I believed in her so much. It was just so painful. I was in shock when I heard the news. She was just that woman you could call upon anytime. Even if you were angry and she was talking to you, she just had a way of calming you down. It’s just so painful.

  • Shonekan advises brokers on professionalism

    • Shoderu takes over as NCRIB president

    THE former Head of the Interim National Government (ING), Chief Ernest Shonekan, has advised insurance brokers to brace to the challenges of professionalism, the industry dented image and agricultural insurance policies.

    He gave the advice at the investiture of Mr Ayodapo Shoderu as the 17th president of Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB) in Lagos.

    He, however, noted that the image of the industry has improved in the last decade.

    He said there was need for insurance and broking firms to think out of the box, stressing that they still lacked the capacity to underwrite some special risks.

    Shonekan, who was chairman of the occasion, urged them to expand their businesses to underwrite bigger businesses, adding that when some companies are given some special deals in oil and gas, they run abroad for help.

    He further said stakeholders in the industry need to join hands to formulate policies in agriculture, and oil and gas businesses, adding that the operators should learn from South Africans.

    He said: “Brokers are at the forefront of insurance business, and they serve as midwives for insurance business without which many underwriters would have no business to underwrite.

    “All over the world, there is rapid improvement in the image of the industry. Nigerian practitioners must avoid cutting corners in expanding their individual businesses, improve on usage of technology to transact insurance businesses and be professional.”

    He also said something must be done to increase the revenue of sector to enhance its contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

    While promising to assist the industry, Shonekan tasked the new president of the council to brace to the task of leading the largest body in the industry.

    The Commissioner for Insurance, Mr Fola Daniel, praised the immediate president of the council, who was its first female president, Laide Osijo. He pledged the commission’s assistance to the council.

    Meanwhile, the new NCRIB President, MrAyodapo Shoderu said his two-year tenure would focus on improving relationship with the government and its lobbying tactic, creating data system bureau and improving its image problem.

    He said others were setting up of accounting technical committees to tackle financial reporting and auditing as well as strengthening its area committees.

     

  • Safety institute urges professionalism at induction

    Safety institute urges professionalism at induction

    Graduating trainees of the Institute of Safety Professionals of Nigeria (ISPON) have received the best gift they could ever ask for: a thorough orientation on how not only to succeed in their jobs but also to ensure the safety of everyone.

    At an induction session in Ikeja, Lagos, ISPON chiefs urged the graduating trainees to be devoted to their jobs and to discharge their duties with “dignity, discretion and honour, “ their focus being to “serve mankind”.

    The President of the institute, Mr Shaw Fregene told the inductees to always observe the ethics of their profession, noting that it is by doing so that they uphold the institute in addition to serving their clients or employers better.

    The institute draws some of its membership from a wide range of service providers and professionals including engineers, occupational hygienists, environmentalists, medical and health practitioners, fire fighter and security professionals.

    “Our mission,” said Fregene, “is to achieve excellent safety performance of organisations and create safety awareness through information dissemination, courses, seminars, audits and publications, thus promoting, encouraging and improving occupational methods and procedures in the industries, public sector and institutions.”

    Addressing the new members, the ISPON president urged that they update themselves in order to perform at their optimum. Fregene told them to attend meetings called by the institute, adding that they should equally participate in workshops and seminars “in order to succeed as safety professionals.”

    In a paper, Dr Nicholas Okere, a member of ISPON, advised that private organisations, welders and small-scale entrepreneurs, and indeed every service provider, need to operate in healthy and safe environments.

  • CIBN chief harps on professionalism

    The Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) has re-emphasised the need for professionalism and acquisition of needed skills by bankers.

    Speaking at the induction of 817 new graduates in Lagos, CIBN President/ Chairman of Council, Segun Aina, said banking thrives on professionalism and ethical practices as there are no short cuts.

    The inductees comprise 13 persons for Certificate in Banking; 162 new Associates (Chartered Bankers) and 642 Micro-finance certified bankers, who have successfully completed the qualifying examinations of the Institute.

    Aina said graduation and inductions are special occasions as they simultaneously signify both an end and a beginning for most bankers.

    He said the exercise logically conclude the formal professional examinations process and provide occasions for fulfillment for the students, their families and the Institute. As a beginning, such exercise provides the opportunity for the next and most important stage of practising with distinction, the knowledge and skills acquired through the examination process.

    According to him, the exercise marks the transition from bank workers to Chartered Bankers or Certified Bankers as the case may be for the inductees.

    He said the banking industry requires every practitioner to constantly add value and credibility to his institution in an ethical manner as well as continuously improve and add value and dignity to oneself.

    “A greater level of versatility and intellectualism is required of today’s banking professionals. As your qualification of today is just a beginning; you need to participate in the Compulsory Continuing Professional Development Programmes (CCPD) of the Institute.

    The CCPD is provided to ensure that your capabilities keep pace with standards both nationally and globally. You have to stay relevant, up to date and customer-centric in the face of ever changing and competitive banking environment,” he said.

    Aina said the competency framework recently rolled-out by the Central Bank of Nigeria and Bankers Committee requires bankers to attain necessary competencies to stay abreast of global developments. Under the Financial Sector Strategy (FSS) 2020, the Institute is pursuing the drawing up the framework for attracting and developing world class talents within the banking industry.

  • Issues in editorship and professionalism

    As members of the Nigerian Guild of Editors converge at Premier Hotel, Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, for their biennial conference from February 28 to March 2, there is need to ponder the state of the Nigerian media. It has to be admitted that the media enjoys the accolade of being one of Africa’s most vibrant. Editors have led the media posse, as people’s vanguard, on various occasions to confront authorities when policies are deemed to be anti-people, the most recent example being the media’s strategic role in opposition to increase in the price of petrol, that eventually exposed the fuel subsidy scandal.

    Yet, media performance can be much better. In this regard, the issues which demand attention include fairness and accuracy in the media; rabid political partisanship in editorial content as well as media credibility. There is the issue of poor quality control of editorial content, particularly news stories, which is the flagship product of the media. In all these, the ownership factor is crucial.

    However, as the professional leader, the editor is the pivot of any media establishment, in spite of competing forces seeking control of the media. A key competing force is the media owner – public or private. There is the widespread notion that the media owner, like the person who pays the piper, has the right to dictate the tune in editorial content. This is a fallacy, given the media’s primary mandate as a public trust.

    For the privately-owned media, it is a dual mandate – as a business and public trust. Hence, while the investor has a right to expect returns from a media company as a business, it is for the editor to determine the editorial content that strikes a balance between the investor’s expectations and what serves the public good. It is a responsibility that he should neither abdicate nor compromise. Where the owner is government, such media outfit should function mainly as public service, not business, as is currently the case with the commercialisation of news, particularly in radio and television stations owned by federal and state governments. To surrender publicly owned media to market forces is a repudiation of government’s fundamental service to the people and a denial of their rights to know and be heard as such policy shuts out a significant section of the polity. It is a policy the editors’ guild should contest.

    It is understandable that governments, private owners, special interest groups and even advertisers would seek to influence or control the media in their desire to sell a point of view, to be positively projected to the people through the media or to contain resistance by the masses. The editor is the bulwark against these assaults on the media by power blocs and he can only resist such assaults successfully by imbibing professional integrity. A prerequisite to acquiring professional integrity is to acquire professional training – being a trained journalist with a university degree in mass communication or journalism, a training that emphasizes the ethics of the profession. So, a major challenge for the Nigerian Guild of Editors is professionalising the position of editor and other editorial cadres and their equivalent positions in the broadcast media. A situation where just anybody can get into media establishment, parade himself or herself as a journalist and even aspire to be editor should not be allowed to continue. With over 100 universities, polytechnics and monotechnics offering courses in mass communication and journalism in Nigeria, there is a pool from which to build a class of professional journalists. A concession might, however be given to non-mass communications graduates in the media to undertake a post graduate diploma course in mass communication to upgrade their status. A professional journalist is expected to know the limitations of owners in terms of editorial content. There are studies which support this stand. Scholars, including Peter Golding, Noam Chomsky and James Curran, note that while governments and other media owners are inclined to determine the editorial line in newspapers and broadcast stations, “they exercise these powers within structures which impose limits”. They thus contend with regard to media control that “owners, advertisers and key political players cannot always do as they would wish”. Sadly, some editors, lacking professional integrity, by their obsequiousness give media proprietors the impression that they (owners) can always do as they wish. A trend where some editors tag along, as seeming bag-boys, on the entourage of their proprietors on local and foreign trips diminishes the position of editor.

    I often cite the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) as an example of a credible government-owned media, largely due to the professionalism and integrity of its pioneer Editor-in-Chief, Femi Adefela, a tradition that has been sustained by NAN’s current managing director, Remi Oyo, a former NAN staff, even when she had served in the politically partisan position of media aide to former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

    An important issue with editorship is accountability. If editors hold officials of governments and other institutions accountable to the people, if they decry impunity, they also must be accountable to their audience – readers, listeners and viewers. Freedom of the press cannot be freedom to be irresponsible in their editorial content. In this regard, newspaper editors need to subject themselves to the arbitration of the Nigerian Press Council when aggrieved members of the public petition the council on alleged media excesses. Treating summons from NPC with levity does not accord with media ethics.

    A key function of the editor is quality control of media content to ensure fairness and accuracy. It would, however, seem that this function has been largely abandoned given the many embarrassing errors of fact, spelling and grammar in media fare, even on the front pages of newspapers ! In this regard, the media needs government intervention to assist with capacity building for the overall public good. I will end this piece by returning to the issues of professionalism, integrity and monetization in the media with a quote from the 1947 report of the U.S. Commission on Freedom of the Press, headed by Robert M. Hutchins: “Whatever may be thought of the conduct of individual members of the older, established professions, like law and medicine, each of these professions as a whole accepts responsibility for the service rendered by the profession as a whole, and there are some things which a truly professional man will not do for money”. The Nigerian Guild of Editors need to make a ‘truly professional man’ of editors and other cadres of journalists by initiating a peer review on qualifications and a mechanism to bring erring editors and other journalists to order. Editorship is a distinguished position whose prestige and authority can only be enhanced where ethics, professionalism and integrity rule.

    • Dr. Olawunmi, Fellow of the Nigerian Guild of Editors lectures at Bowen University, Iwo,

  • CIBN partners regulators, banks on professionalism

    CIBN partners regulators, banks on professionalism

    The Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), is partnering with key stakeholders and institutions in the country to ensure that the Nigerian banking sector attains the highest level of professionalism.

    A statement from the Institute said it would continue to partner with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) to ensure that bankers carry out their work diligently.

    The institute also said that it was partnering with Unity Bank Plc and other government and private bodies within and outside the country with a view to taking the Institute and the banking profession to greater heights.

    The President/Chairman of Council of the Institute, Mr. Segun Aina, stressed the need to partner with relevant stakeholders on capacity building and training of staff in the banking industry as well as other sectors of the economy in order to enable the country realise her millennium goals aspiration. Mr. Aina stated this during the Institute’s dialogue with key stakeholders held in Abuja.

    He encouraged EFCC, CBN and Unity Bank to engage the services of the CIBN Practice Licence holders and other well experienced professional bankers for their consultancy services, debt recovery, forensic audit, training and other services.

    He urged EFCC to support the establishment of Commercial Courts to fast-track cases involving banks and their customers as well as enforce the Dud Cheque offences Act to checkmate incidences of dud cheque crimes in banks.

     

     

     

    “EFCC should collaborate with the Institute on the enforcement of the Dud cheque Act and the Commission should ensure that banks get timely feedback on their returns to the regulatory agencies,” it added.

    While noting the Institute’s proposals, The Chairman of EFCC Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde, observed that the banking profession has improved tremendously. “The banks have done a lot in the area of know your customer (KYC) and there is need for them to also improve in other areas in other to sustain confidence in the industry”, he said.

    CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, said both parties should work closely by harmonising ideas and efforts in order to ensure that the industry is not divided on approach on issues affecting it and the economy.

    “There is the need to bring in people with sound knowledge on critical financial market issues”, Sanusi said.

    On the other hand, the Managing Director/Chief Executive of Unity Bank Plc, Mr. Ado Wanka, noted that the Institute’s initiatives, especially capacity building, staff training and competency framework would go a long way in closing the gaps in the banking industry. “It will make the industry more responsive and competent for the good of the economy, said Wanka.