APRA calls on stakeholders to chart new course in repositioning Africa’s image

The President of the African Public Relations Association (APRA), Yomi Badejo-Okusanya has called on governments, organisations and brand managers who believe in Africa, to work with the APRA to chart a new course for the PR profession to reposition the image of the continent.

Speaking at the 29th annual conference of the APRA in Casablanca, Morocco   recently,  Badejo-Okusanya believed  PR is the relevant profession when it comes to reputation management.

He  called on African Public Relations professionals both in the public and private sector to collectively re-tell and re-sell the story of Africa. In his charge he said “the prime responsibility of changing Africa’s narrative rests squarely with us and we must rise to that occasion…. no one can tell our story better than us. I therefore challenge us not to leave Casablanca without clearly forging an actionable plan for changing Africa’s narrative and advancing our profession in this milieu”.

Badejo-Okusanya said that APRA has mandated itself to promote five key areas in the continent. He listed the focus areas as  “Economic Integration, Infrastructure Development & Technological Advancement, Social Welfare with emphasis on education, health and poverty reduction, Good Governance and finally Tourism, Leisure & Entertainment”.

He said that APRA is however faced with some challenges which include identity crisis and the misrepresentation that the society has for the PR practice.

Another  challenge which is closely linked to the first issue, is that of value determination. He explained that many entities in Africa especially governments are yet to give the PR practice the recognition it deserves. He said “Our job as public relations practitioners and consultants is not an all comers one to be handed out to relatives, cronies and those who are difficult to place in the organization.” He explained that the PR practice brings a unique value to the table that can only be given by professional practitioners.

The third and last of the challenges he listed is the issue of collaboration on the continent. He stated that PR practitioners must learn to work together, eliminating fragmentation that has worked against the practice in the past. He said “Until public relations practitioners begin to take ourselves seriously by engaging strength in unity, we cannot expect others to do that for us.”   

Hezron Atunde