Press, Public Relations & Protocol

Director: Ms. Daju, K. S.

The Public Relations and Protocol Department handles a wide range of Public Relations, Publicity and Protocol functions for the Ministry and other MDAs as it relates to Ministerial Platforms,etc, etc.

The creation of the Department is as a result of a resolution of the National Council on Information.  It is based on this resolution that a request was made to Head of Civil Service of the Federation, where approval was granted for the creation of the Department of Public Relations and Protocol in the Ministry of Information, because of the unique functions it carries out. The Department is structured as follows:

  1. STRUCTURE

The Department consists of the following Units:

  • Office of the Director
  • Media Relations
  • Protocol/Special event management/Scheduling of HMI’s functions/activities
  • Community Relations
  • HIV/AIDS Desk
  • State House Liaison for the Ministry
  1. FUNCTIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT
  2. i) Coordination of the professional, protocol and administrative functions of the Department.
  3. ii) Representation of the Ministry on the Governing Council of the professional bodies affiliated to the Ministry viz:
  • Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR);
  • Liaison with Resident Information Officers/Directors of Press in MDAs, in their Public Relations activities;
  • Executing Public Relations duties for Federal Government.
  • Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON);
  • National Broadcasting Commission (NBC);
  • NUJ-Nigeria Union of Journalists, NAWOJ, NGE, SWAN etc.
  • Liaison with State House and production of weekly Federal Executive Council summaries for circulation to the State House Press Corps.
  • COLLABORATIVE FUNCTIONS

         The Department also liaises with the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), Nigeria Union of Journalist (NUJ) and Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria (BON) etc.

It also collaborates with Office of the National Security Adviser on security issues; the National Planning Commission and the Office of the Special Adviser to the President on Performance Monitoring and Evaluation; the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) on Rapid Response to National Disasters; and the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA).

The Department also liaises with professional bodies such as the Pan African Advertising Union (PAU), the Federation of African Public Relations Association (FAPRA), and International Advertising Association (IAA) as well as relevant development partners, coordination of PANA activities.

It is also involved in the implementation of the Strategic Action Plan for Public Information Management.

  • PROTOCOL FUNCTIONS

The Section is responsible for the arrangement of courtesy calls, scheduling of itineraries and procurement of travel documents for the Honourable Minister, Permanent Secretary and other staff of the Ministry.   It also undertakes the procurement and renewal of International Passports and other travel documents for staff and handles other consular duties.  It is in charge of the management of special events also.

  • COMMUNITY RELATIONS

The Section liaises with various stakeholders within and outside the country to execute special government programmes. The stakeholders include Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), Community Based Organisations (CBOs) and relevant International Organisations.

  • MEDIA RELATIONS

The Department coordinates Honourable Minister’s Media Crew and other media organisations for effective coverage of the activities of the Ministry and the Federal Government.

  • NATIONAL EMBLEM AND PRESIDENTIAL PORTRAITS

The Department is in charge of the procurement and distribution of Nigeria’s Coat of Arms, Presidential Portraits and other corporate souvenirs for dignitaries during courtesy calls by the Honourable Minister of Information and the Permanent Secretary.

  • HIV/AIDS DESK

In continuation of the fight against HIV/AIDS with emphasis on prevention, the Department interfaces with National Action Committee on Aids (NACA) and Federal Ministry of Health to sensitize and raise awareness and promote moral standards among members of the public especially at the grassroots level through production and distribution of IEC materials and seminars.

The HIV/AIDS desk works with the World Bank funded HIV/AIDS Programmes Development Project (HPDP I) in collaboration with NACA.  The HPDP project is expected to deepen the focus on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and other related diseases in the area of prevention, care and support of the people living with HIV/AIDS.

  • PRODUCTION AND MAINTENANCE OF BILLBOARDS

The Department produces messages, constructs and maintains Billboards on behalf of the Ministry for the communication of relevant messages to boost special government policies and programmes e.g. Buy Made-In-Nigeria Products, and HIV/AIDS etc.

  1. LIAISON WITH STATE HOUSE/PRODUCTION OF WEEKLY FEDERAL EXECUTIVE COUNCIL SUMMARIES

          The Department liaises with the State House and the Cabinet Secretariat.  It produces weekly Federal Executive Council summaries, for the Honourable Minister of Information, and for circulation to the media after every FEC meeting in order to ensure that government Conclusions at FEC meeting are properly reported and reflected by the media for public consumption.