By Chesa Chesa
Vice-President Kashim Shettima has charged Public Relations (PR) practitioners in Nigeria to concisely and clearly communicate government reforms and policies to the public in a manner that would foster confidence and trust.
Specifically, he noted that policies and reforms, such as those being undertaken by the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, can only succeed if the citizens understand how they serve the public good.
Senator Shettima, who gave the charge on Tuesday in Kaduna during the 3rd Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) Week CROC City 2026 being hosted by the state governor, Senator Ubah Sani, also commissioned the newly built Brigadier Abba Kyari Banquet Hall, Sir Kashim Ibrahim House, at Government House, Kaduna.
Speaking at the NIPR week 2026, the Vice President underscored the indispensability of public relations to communicating government policies, observing that policies and reforms that are poorly explained often lead to public distrust and resistance.
“As a government, we regard public relations as a strategic function of governance. It is integral to building trust, managing uncertainty, and sustaining reform. We must communicate not only what we are doing, but why we are doing it, how it serves the public good, and what place the citizen occupies in the success of that effort.
“Governance cannot afford to be distant. Policy cannot afford to be opaque. Leadership cannot afford to speak a language the people no longer understand,” he stated, observing that no matter how brilliant policies are in conception, “they must be explained, trusted, and translated from technical language into human meaning.”
Dwelling on the theme of the third NIPR week, “Food Security: From Policy Paper to Public Plate,” VP Shettima told the PR practitioners that their profession assumes central national importance only if their translation of government policies “speak to the anxieties of the farmer in the field, the merchant in the market, and the family around the dinner table.”
The Vice President outlined measures being taken by the Tinubu administration to ensure food security in the country, stating that feeding the nation is at the heart of the President’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
His words: “His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, has placed feeding our nation at the heart of the nation’s economic and social agenda. We have taken bold steps to confront this challenge with the seriousness it demands. We declared a state of emergency on food insecurity.
“We advanced mechanisation by deploying 2,000 tractors. We established a ₦100 billion agricultural fund. We scaled up dry-season farming. We introduced targeted input subsidies. And we strengthened partnerships to unlock investment across the agricultural value chain.”
