Practitioners of public relations and PR bodies all over the world are converging to celebrate the second edition of the World Public Relations Day on this day, the 16th of July.
The APRA President, Yomi Badejo-Okusanya, on behalf of APRA and its entire membership, join Public
Relations stakeholders across the globe to commemorate this year’s day aptly
themed - TRUST, TRUTH AND TRANSPARENCY.
"I salute Ayeni Adekunle, the CEO and founder of BHM, a proud
Nigerian, Proud African for conceptualizing the World Public Relations Day.
May I use this medium to request all practitioners and
stakeholders on the continent to aggressively push the agenda of PR in their
daily dealings by highlighting its importance and value in every organization,
business, and nation.
As you are aware, I am a firm advocate of ‘Affirmative PR’
Simply put, Affirmative PR means making sure PR speaks for
PR. It makes sure we determine and define the value and importance of PR and we
effectively communicate it.
After all, if we can do it for our clients and principals,
we surely can do it for our profession.
In line with this, APRA since 1975 has been able to gather
PR professionals across the continent and beyond, under one roof in various
locations, at various times, to push forward the unified African agenda for
Public Relations.
Our latest gathering was our 33rd annual conference held in
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, this May and was hugely successful. It came on the
back of the worldwide pandemic that held us back from gathering physically
since 2019.
The 34th edition, tagged APRA Zambia 2023, is scheduled to
hold in Lusaka, Zambia in May 2023 and will afford us another opportunity to
push our continental agenda for public relations. I look forward to receiving you personally.
Finally, The Executive Council of APRA acknowledges the
efforts of PR professionals across the continent and has asked me to
thank you all for your contributions to redefining public relations practice.
There is definitely a lot more to be done and it is counting on us all.
I wish us a very happy 2022 World Public Relations Day!"