Expert warns Nigerians against negative messages, urges all to protect country’s reputation
A Public Relations expert, Adetokunbo Modupe, has warned Nigerians against spreading negative messages, emphasizing that reputation is a country’s capital.
Modupe insisted that building the country’s reputation is a collective responsibility, requiring the efforts of both leaders and citizens, adding that the perception of a country directly impacts the value placed on its citizens.
He made this call at the 2025 Annual Colloquium of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, NIPR, Ogun State chapter, held on Thursday, in Abeokuta.
Speaking on the colloquium theme, Leadership and Reputation: “The Role of Public Relations in Building Trust in Nigeria”, the founder and chief consultant of TPT International Limited, described leadership and reputation as inseparable elements of national development, lamenting that Nigeria’s leadership crisis had eroded public trust.
Modupe urged leaders to rebuild credibility through truth, fairness and service, warning that corruption and disregard for values continued to undermine democratic growth.
He said, “Indeed, the perception of a country is reflected in the value placed on its citizens. If you want to know the reputation of your country, look at the value placed on you when you step out of Nigeria.
“We have data and if I present data to you all on how the world sees Nigeria today, you will feel very sorry for our country. However, it’s not all gloom and doom, we have the bad side and we have the great side.”
Declaring the event open, the National President of NIPR, Dr Ike Neliaku, represented by Tope Adaramola, a council member, emphasized that the gap between the leadership and the led, makes PR’s role in fostering trust in Nigeria more pertinent than ever.
Neliaku stated that genuine communication, consistent message, reputation management, crisis communication, and storytelling were all necessary to establish trust.
He reiterated his commitment to building NIPR as a formidable institution in Nigeria, by putting in place strategies to ensure that the institute becomes stronger than any individual, saying “the major deficit of our nation is that we have strong men and very weak institutions.”
In his address, the Chairman of the occasion, the 2023 governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, Oladipupo Adebutu, identified reputation and leadership as co-travellers in the development of any nation.
He noted that Nigeria’s major challenge remains leadership rooted in weak values and loss of reputation, stressing that no nation could progress when integrity and conscience are abandoned.
Earlier, the Ogun State Chairman of NIPR, Mrs Oluwaseun Boye, in her welcome address, described nation-building as a shared responsibility requiring leaders, institutions and citizens to uphold ethical values and transparency in their dealings.
Boye emphasised that in order to foster positive relationships between organisations and the public, public relations must establish trust through genuine and consistent communication, reputation management, and strategic stakeholders’ engagement.