NIGERIAN Women in Public Relations has launched the first edition of its people spotlight series tagged Hidden Gems. The first edition identifies, celebrates and amplifies the profiles of female public relations lecturers in Nigerian universities.
Speaking on the launch of the series, founder of Nigerian Women in Public Relations Tolulope Olorundero said, ‘I am really excited about the launch of this series today. When we relaunched Nigerian Women in PR in September, our objectives were clearly defined. One of it was that we will be dedicated to platforming women in our profession and celebrating their results. That is why we developed the Hidden Gems spotlight series to bring to the limelight women working in public relations in industries that are not traditionally designed for public visibility and attention.’
The first edition of Hidden Gems features some of Nigeria’s icon female public relations lecturers and heads of Mass Communication departments including: Dr Kehinde Kadiri, Head of Department, Mass Communication, University of Ilorin; AP Bernce O. Sanusi, Head of Department, Mass Communication, Redeemers University; Dr Kehinde Oyesomi, Head of Department, Mass Communication, Covenant University; Prof Clementina Okafor, former Head of Department, Mass Communication, Enugu State University of Science and Technology.
Other lecturers include: Dr Adebisi Ogunmusire of Elizade University; Dr Tina Anasuhi of Babcock University; Dr Sade Ade-Johnson of Adekunle Ajasin University; Dr Moyosore Alade of Redeemers University; Dr Jennifer Dafiovo of Delta State, University; and Mrs Khadija Yusuf of Lagos State University.
‘There are no special selection criteria,’ says Olorundero, explaining how these women were selected. “These were the names we discovered while researching women in academia, and we reached out to them. Many were quite surprised and pleased that we were going to celebrate them this way. While the PR and communications industry is now recognising the contribution of women to the growth of the profession, attention is almost exclusively focused on corporate organisations that by nature of their design requires their PR women to be visible. We believe that there are more women, like these ones in academia, who are doing incredible work and achieving results, that need to be celebrated as well. This will herald the desired transition from visibility alone as a metric to measure PR result, to impact.’
Nigerian Women in Public Relations is a social impact professional organisation set up to advocate for, and provide growth resources to, Nigerian women working in public relations and communications in-country and in the diaspora. The organisation is designed to be a resource hub for learning and professional growth for its members, to support their continuous relevance professionally, to platform their results, and to promote the understanding and value of public relations. The initiatives of Nigerian Women in Public Relations are designed to support the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals 4: to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all; and 8: to promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.
