Article Citation: Abubakar Musa Mijinyawa & Usman Ibrahim Abubakar (2020). The Place of Local Government Strategic Public Relations in Kano State. DEGEL: The Journal of the Faculty of Arts and Islamic Studies, Vol. 18, No. 2. ISSN 0794-9316
THE PLACE
OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT STRATEGIC PUBLIC RELATIONS IN KANO STATE
By
Abubakar
Musa Mijinyawa & Usman Ibrahim Abubakar
Abstract
The paper investigated the place of local government strategic
communication and its application in Kano State. The objectives of the study
were to: (1) determine the extent to which local governments’ management staff
recognize the strategic place of public relations and (2) the level of
application of strategic public relations in LG. Data were collected through
distribution of questionnaires to 90 respondents who were purposively selected
in 9, local government council from the 3 senatorial districts of the State.
Results obtained from descriptive statistics ran on Statistical Package for
Social Science (SPSS); indicate that (a) majority of the local government’s
management staff do not recognize the strategic place of public relations in
their administration; and (b) the application of strategic public relations
among local government information officers in the state is low. To validate
the results, T-test was used for statistical analysis; the finding indicates
that the recognition of strategic place of public relations among local
governments’ management in Kano state is low. Again the output of One-sample
T-test for the second hypothesis indicates that the application of strategic
public relations process among local government information officers in Kano
state is low. Based on the findings, it is recommended that there should be an
urgent need for the establishment of public relation department in local
government councils. Local government management should consider PR staff as
responsible for all strategic public relation planning and its effective
application in local government councils.
Introduction
Public Relations in the
21st Century, is a strategic management function that uses communication
strategies to build and maintain relationship between organizations and their
publics (Parsons, 2010). In its common parlance, strategy is a plan or set of plan
intended to achieve something, especially over a long period. Although strategy
is a fluid concept that has multiple meanings with a much nuance; there is a
consensus among management scholars that, strategy is essentially concerned
with a process of managing the interaction between an organization and its
publics so as to ensure the best fit between the two (Moss, Vercic and Warnaby
2000). Strategic approach to PR is a topic of recurring interest in the
literature of public relations. It is a pivot of any public relations activity
or campaign and a foundation of public relations process as evidenced in many
public relations definitions and processes. There is strong emphasis on the
positioning of public relations as essentially a function that resolves around
strategy (Mijinyawa, 2018).
The provision of local
government strategic communication on the other hand is well pronounced among
the four basic objectives for establishing local government in the 1976 local
government reform. The forth objective enshrined, is to provide a two-way channel
of communication between local government authorities and their publics
(Ministry of Inter-Governmental Affairs 2006). Thus, the concept envisages the
existence of a two-way communication with inbuilt strategies that requires
strategic approach. Arguably looking at the aforementioned illustration,
strategic communication is part of the overall mission of local government
administration. The 1976 local government reform and subsequent entrenchment of
the vital provision of these reforms in the 1979 Nigerian constitution set the
stages for increased concern about and awareness of local government in
Nigeria. The cornerstone of these reforms was the emergence of local government
as tier of government in Nigeria alongside the State and the Federal Government
(Ikejiani 1995; Garba 2001).
Statement
of the Problem
Public relations is
associated with essential strategic management function by public relations
pundits and professionals especially in the 21st century. In
Nigeria, a series of Local Government Scheme of Service since 1976 to 2006 has
assigned the information cadre with the responsibility of all strategic public
relations function. Thus, the 1976 local government reform stipulated the
provision of a two-way channel of communication between local communities and
their publics as part of the numerous functions of local governments.
Ideally strategic approach
to public relations should be apparent, especially at the grassroots level
where social expectations of the people are high as the actions of government
are expected to touch their lives most profoundly. But researchers (Asemah and
Asogwa 2012) have observed that the local government managements’ attitude seem
lukewarm about local government public relations unit and its strategic
function. There may be discrepancy between theoretical positioning of public
relations as a strategic management function and its practical application at
the local government(s) level. Achor and Okeyi (2015) observe that, there is
need for empirical study on the activities of government information management
and application of PR strategies.
It is against this
background that this study sets to find out (1) the extent to which local
governments’ management staff recognize the strategic place of public relations
and (2) the level of application of strategic public relations in the local
government.
Literature
Review
Strategic communication
interventions are multi-faceted, systematically planned and carefully designed
communication process and media products that aim at increasing knowledge or
change attitudes and practice in target audience (Technische, 2006). UNICEF
(2005) also defined it as an evidence-based, result-oriented process,
undertaken in consultation with the participant… groups to stimulate positive
and measurable behavior and social change. Pinkelton and Austen (2001) viewed
it as a statement of communication terms that will be used to accomplish
specific public relations objective. According to Technische (2006) the process
of developing a strategic communication plan can be divided into two major
parts. The first part is the process of strategic development planning (“what
to do”) while the second part is the process of management planning (“how to
make it happen”). Aragati, Robert and Beck (2005) added by describing as
“communication aligned with the company’s overall strategy to enhance its
strategic positioning”. It is a way to use resources – human, financial and
physical – to help an organization achieve its goals. (Newsom, Turk and
Kuchckberg, 2010). Strategic communication is crucial to an organizational
process.
Local
Government Public Relations in Nigeria
Local government public
relations is derived from the pronouncement of a series of local government
schemes of service for local government employees in Nigeria since 1976 up to
the current (2006) edition which assigned the information cadre with a responsibility
of all public relations matters. Item 2.3.2 of the (2006) edition assigned
taking charge of information, publicity and public relations matters in the
local government as parts of the duties of local government information offices
on grade level 10. Similarly item 2.6.3 assigned Chief Information Officer on
GL/14 a duty of evaluating successes achieved by various publicity and
communication media among some other relevant strategic public relations
functions. On the objectives of local government public relations, Black (1989)
stated the following as main objectives of public relations at local government
level.
· To keep people informed of
council’s policy and day to day activities.
· To give the public an
opportunity to express views on important projects before final decisions are
reached.
· To enlighten people on the
way in which the system of local government works and to inform them of their
rights and responsibilities.
· To promote a sense of civic
pride.
Recognition
of the Strategic Place of Public Relations
It was observed that there
is an increasing consensus among public relations pundits and professional that
public relations should advance beyond technician role to strategic function
Shansan and Otieo (2015) say technician public relations role involve: writing,
editing, running special events. Pimplot (1951) as cited in Richard (2016)
opined that public relations technicians are primarily concern with writing,
producing and disseminating communications such as presss release, speeches web
sites, features stories and annual report. But to Shansan and Otieo (2015)
public relation must be part of strategic management at the general level to
achieve an organizational state goal. The organization which recognizes public
relations professionals as part of the group managers who make the final
decision for the organization, appreciates the strategic place of public
relations. Strategic public relation provides the top level management with
vast means of communication to the public in order to be in touch with its clients.
According to Mijinyawa (2018) PR will never be able to effectively discharge
its functions when it remains considered as technician role rather than a
managerial function. Shansan and Otieo (2015) say strategic public relations
manager role focuses on activities that help identify and solve public
relations problems in such a way that top management will understand its value
and demand it most profoundly. According to Achor and Okoye (2015) the desired
status of government PR is achieved when PR is accorded top management
functions in different organizations. Holtzhausen (2012) observed that the
focus on public relations as a strategic management function has possibly made
the biggest contribution to establish public relations as a serious field of
study.
To be strategic, public
relations professionals need accurate information about the situation, their
target publics, public relations tools, the effectiveness of their
communication strategies and the overall impact the programme has on building
and maintaining relationship with their critical stakeholders. Therefore, an
effective communication strategy is designed to reach out an organization
target publics (whether internal or external publics) with the sole aim of
achieving the organizational goals by establishing and maintaining mutual
understanding. (Newson, Turk and Krukbert, 2010) assert that “strategies
represents how we plan to get there”. According to Akande (1999) the main
objective in planning a public relations programme is to change people, not a
change from bad to worse or by feeding them with spurious information with a
view of winning them over, but rather, through education and enlightenment to
increase knowledge and understanding. Nwosu (2003) in Achor and Okeye (2015)
advocates that governments’ communication and information management must
ensure that PR philosophy and strategies are ingrained in every aspect of
government policies and plan.
Application
of Strategic Public Relations in Local Government Areas
Looking at the local
government Public Relation Patterns, there are two essential classifications of
local government public relations efforts in Nigeria. Naemeka (1991) in (Salu
1993) provided a distinction between planned and sporadic public relations efforts.
According to him planned public relations efforts are deliberately designed to
fit into the overall administrative and programmatic scheme of the
organization, budget management and programmes, either in the short or long
term. Sporadic Public Relations efforts on the other hand, lack must of these
essential characteristic of planed public relations efforts. The former unlike
the latter occur in scattered and non-sequential order of events; they do not
reveal any coherent mission or corporate posture which the set of events or
programmes that compose the public relations efforts are expected to build up
to and generally such sporadic public relations activities are never programmed
to fit into the overall scheme of operation of an organization. Uduji (2012)
observed that the application of strategic PR encompasses the following:
Research, Setting objectives, Selection of the right media, Budgetting,
Counselling services and evaluation.
Castelli (2007) found that
little research has been conducted on the way public relations are being
practiced in public organizations. In a study conducted by Asemah (2012) titled
public relations strategic and administration of Jos North local government
area Plateau State, Nigeria, found that, local government recognition and usage
of public relations is little. It also concluded that although the local
government endeavors to inform people about its policies and programmes, public
relations practice in local government and the information provided is done on
occasional basis. Thus, the pattern of public relations in that local
government is sporadic.
However, Aniebo (2015)
found that Ezeagu Local Government Area in Enugu State has no full-fledged
public relations department, rather information unit under secretary’s office.
Similarly, Ugbor (2010) in a study entitled “Public Relations and Administration
in Nigeria: A case study of the activities of Public Relations Officer in
Iswkwoato Local Government Area, Abia State” found that, most public relations
practitioners at local government levels practiced a two-way communication
public relations model, but they have the most expertise in the public
information and press agentry model.
It was discovered that
little research has been conducted on the way public relations is being
practiced in public organizations especially at the local government level.
Also it has been found that, while there is wealth of literature positioned and
emphasized public relations as an essentially a strategic management function,
research on how organization manage public relations strategically is rare.
Indeed, there is quite number of focus areas of the strategic management of
public relation that are not receiving scholarly attention, as Moss, Vercic and
Wanarby (2000:71) rightly observed “very few empirical studies have been
conducted into strategic management function as well as how the public relation
function itself can be manage strategically”.
Strategic
Public Relations Process
The strategic communication
for public relations consists of a number of steps as devised by various public
relations pundits ranging from a four-step up to fourteen-step process as
follow:
RACE model describes public
relations as a four-step continually-cycling process. R, stand for researches,
A, stands for Action, C, stands for Communication, and E, stands for
Evaluation. Cutlip, Center and Broom, (2000) similarly noted four-step public relations
process as fact finding and feedback; Planning and programming; Action and
communication; Evaluation. Black (1989) devised four-step process which he
called it a typical public relations activity. Also, Centre and Jeckson (1995)
defined the public relations process through four-step. Another four-step
public relation planning was proposed by Seitel (1989). Moreover, Hendix and
Hayes (2010) introduced the ROPE model as Research, Objectives, Programming and
Evaluation. Jethwanney and Sarkar (2012) suggested four-point public relations
planning model. Hanson (2005) suggested four-steps in strategic public
relations planning. Mijinyawa (2018) proposed PR IDEA model as Investigation,
Design, Execution and Assessment.
Furthermore, for the
five-step strategic planning, Castelli (2007) developed ROSE. Another important
five – step public relations planning model is STARE. However, in his model,
Jefkins, (1988) suggested six-steps: Application of situation; Definition of
objectives; Definition of publics; Selection of media and techniques; Budge;
and Assessment of result. Akande, (1999), outlined seven-step public relations
model. Another important seven-step model was developed by Stephens, (2011).
Wilcox (2006) offered eight components of public relations plan. Orraca –
Tetth, (1986) developed nine-step planning process. Smith (2009) noted
four-phases nine-step strategic public relations planning process.
Coulson (1979) identified
ten-point planning model which he called it systematic approach to public
relations programme. Broom and Dozier (1990) offered ten steps strategic public
relations planning. Another important ten-point planning model was devised by
Naveed (2016). Newsom and Haynes, (2011), suggest a dozen steps that make
public relations work. Similarly, Nnabuku (2007) suggested a dozen steps for
effective public relations campaign. Nwosu in Anyaugu and Uduji (2012)
identified comprehensive forteen-steps in public relations campaign.
The paper enumerated a
plethora of different public relations processs, ranging from the four-step up
to the fourteen-point strategic planning. While there are a number of various
ways of looking at the process, they all include the four-step: research, objectives,
programming and evaluation (ROPE). The ROPE model is among the most widely-used
public relations process. The model primarily consists of four-steps: using
research to define the problem or situation, developing objectives, programming
that addresses the strategic communication and then evaluating the result of
public relations in order to measure how well the programme accomplished its
objectives.
Related
Theories
Strategic communication for
public relations can be hinged on a plethora of theories to explain the
relationship between various actions and events in the public relations domain.
Lattimore, Baskin, Heiman, Toth and Van Leuven (2004) marshaled various theories
relevant to public relations practice of relevance to the study include the
following: System theory; Situational theory; Action assembly theory; Diffusion
theory; social learning theory and Agenda setting theory. Apart from the
aforementioned theories, Structural functionalism theory, Institutional theory;
Information-processing theory and Cognitive Balance theory too are found to be
relevant to this study. Specifically, the two-way symmetric model as posited by
Grunting and Hunt (1984) serves as the theoretical frame for this paper.
Two-Way Symmetrical
Communication Model: The two-way symmetrical communication model was first
introduced by James Gruning and Larissa Gruning. Stephens and Greenberg (2011)
say the Grunigs’ theory has more to do with communication style. They
considered and rejected both one-way asymmetrical communication and two
way-asymmetrical communications because neither one emphasized the subjects.
They suggested that communication must start with understanding the wants and
needs of the public; something that asymmetrical communication fails to do. The
two-way communication model lays emphases on the need to find way of
communication between an organization and its publics… That it calls for
feedback. The organization needs to know about its publics and vis-Ã -vis. This
would therefore facilitate both mutual understanding and achievement of the aim
and objectives of the organization. Through the model members of the community
are kept abreast of government policies and programs. Obviously, local
governments have a firm duty to inform the community of their activities and to
put the council view of matter of concern to that community. Some of the most
important inbuilt aspects of strategic communication contained the two-way
communication of the model include the following:
· Identification of the
communication objectives
· Selection of Local
Government target publics
· Selection of the right
channel
· Devising communication
messages that must have guiding ideas
· Giving message to the right
public through the right channels at the right time and
· Evaluation.
Asemah (2010) in Asemeh and
Asogwa (2012) note that, the two-way communication of the model is basically a
way for two groups of people to share ideas and hopefully gain something from
the experience. The above represents an indicative, rather than a comprehensive
list of the many theories underpinning communication strategies to change,
create and maintain favorable behavior or attitude towards an object, situation
or programme in public relations domain. Hence, they are relevant theories in
creating and maintaining a positive public attitude towards a product or
service or the organization itself.
Research
Questions
1. Do local governments’
management recognize the strategic place of the public?
2. Do local government
information officers apply strategic approach to public relations?
Methodology
Research
Design
The descriptive survey
method was adopted because it gives a picture of a situation and serves as a
basic method for describing current condition or attitude, that is, to explain
what exists at the moment. Ujo (2000:89) observed that, it studies group of
people or items by collecting and analyzing data from only few people or items
considered being representative of the group. Survey is used due to its virtue
to study both large and small population to discover a relative incidence,
distribution and interrelation of sociological and psychological variables
(Osuala, 2007:253).
Population
of the Study
The population of this
study is the entire 44 LGA management staff and Information Officers. The
researcher used the members of the local government management committee as the
respondents. Local government management committee consists of 10 categories of
target population who are as follows:
(1) Director of Personnel
Management (2) Chief Personnel Officer (3) HOD Social Development (4) HOD
Agriculture (5) HOD Primary Health Care (6) HOD Planning Research and
Statistics (7) HOD Treasury (8) HOD Works and Housing (9) HOD Staff Officer and
(10) Information Officer.
Although, Information
Officers are not part of the Management Committee but are included in the
categories; based on the consideration of their direct involvement in the local
government communication process. Hence 10 respondents were selected in each local
government area. Multiplying the number of respondents by the number of the
local government areas, the aggregate population of this study therefore, is
put at 440 personnel of LGs in Kano State.
Target
Population
DPM X 44 LGAs =44
CPO X 44 LGAs =44
HOD Soc. Dev. X 44 LGAs =44
HOD Agric X 44 LGAs =44
HOD PRS X 44 LGAs =44
HOD PHC X 44 LGAs =44
HOD W&H X 44 LGAs =44
HOD Treasury X 44 LGAs =44
SO X 44 LGAs =44
IO X 44 LGAs =44
440
Sample
Size
To determine the sample
size, the researchers purposively selected 90 respondents to represent the
aggregate population of the study. The justification for the use of purposive
sampling is that the local government management staff committee is pronounced
in the local government standing committees in Kano State.
However, for the selection
of the study areas, nine local government councils were randomly selected based
on clusters from the local governments in the three Senatorial Districts of
Kano State that comprise Kano-Central, Kano-South and Kano-North. Therefore, in
each of the three Senatorial Districts three local governments were selected.
The three selected local governments in Kano-Central include: Dala, Gwale and
Kano Municipal Local Government Area, while in Kano-South, Gaya, Bunkure and
Bebeji were selected, and in Kano-North Bichi, Dawakin Tofa and Dambatta were
selected.
Analysis
Statistical Package for
Social Science (SPSS) version 23 was employed in data analysis. The data
collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics, simple percentage and
frequency counts.
Data
Presentation and Anaysis
This part presents the
analysis of the collected data from the administered questionnaires. The
analysis is presented based on the (2) specific objectives of the study.
Research
Objective One: To determine the extent to which local governments’
management recognize the strategic place of public relations.
Table
1: Distribution and Return of the questionnaires
|
Dala |
Gwale |
Kano Mun. |
Gaya |
Bebeji |
Bunkure |
Bichi |
D/ Tofa |
Dam batta |
Total |
|
|
Distributed |
10 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
90 100% |
|
Returned |
10 |
8 |
10 |
8 |
7 |
10 |
10 |
9 |
8 |
80(88.8%) |
|
Not returned |
0 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
10(11.2%) |
Source: Field Survey
(2021).
The table above shows that,
out of the 90 copies of the distributed questionnaires 80 (88%) were returned.
The returned copies were considered adequate enough to represent the
population. Therefore all the data presentation and analysis were based on the
returned questionnaires. Below are the results of descriptive statistics
obtained from the respondents.
Table 2.
Respondents’ perception of the place of public relations in local government
top management committee.
|
Frequency |
Percent |
Valid Percent |
|
|
Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Total |
20 46 14 80 |
25.0 57.5 17.5 100.0 |
25.0 57.5 17.5 100.0 |
Source: Field Survey (2021)
The result on the table
above shows majority of the respondents constituting 75% (57.5% & 17.5%)
were either disagree or strongly disagree that public relations staff is part
of the local government top management committee but, the remaining 25% agreed
with the statement. We can therefore, conclude from the result that local
government top managements do not recognize public relations as a managerial
function.
Table 3. Perception
of Respondents on the place of public relations in local government council
meeting
|
Frequency |
Percent |
Valid Percent |
|
|
Valid Agreed Disagreed Strongly Disagree Total |
20 50 10 80 |
25.0 62.5 12.5 100.0 |
25.0 62.5 12.5 100.0 |
Source: Field Survey (2021)
The findings from the table
above show that, 25% of the respondents agreed with the statement that local
government public relations staff takes part in the executive council meeting
but most of the respondents 62% disagreed, alongside 12.5% who strongly
disagreed with the statement. This implies that local governments’ management
do not recognize the strategic place of public relations to have a seat in the
executive council meeting.
|
Table 4. Perception
of Respondents on the place of PR in the provision of advice and
counseling services to local government executives. |
|||||
|
|
Frequency |
Percent |
Valid
Percent |
|
|
|
Valid |
Strongly
agree |
10 |
12.5 |
12.5 |
|
|
Agree |
24 |
30.0 |
30.0 |
|
|
|
Disagree |
42 |
52.5 |
52.5 |
|
|
|
strongly
disagree |
4 |
5.0 |
5.0 |
|
|
|
Total |
80 |
100.0 |
100.0 |
|
|
Source: Field Survey (2021)
Data in table above shows
that 12.5% of the respondents strongly agree, 30% agree but 52.5% disagree as
well as 5.0 % which strongly disagree with the view that PR staff provides
advice and counseling services to local government executives. We can therefore,
conclude based on this finding that local governments’ management do not
recognize the strategic place of public relations as responsible
for advice and counseling services.
|
Table 5: Perception of Respondents on the
PR Department in local government |
|||||
|
|
Frequency |
Percent |
Valid
Percent |
|
|
|
Valid |
strongly
agree |
28 |
35.0 |
350 |
|
|
Agree |
34 |
42.5 |
42.5 |
|
|
|
Disagree |
18 |
22.5 |
22.5 |
|
|
|
Total |
80 |
100.0 |
100.0 |
|
|
Source: Field Survey (2021)
As indicated in table 5
above, out of the total response 77.5% either agreed or strongly agreed that
information and PR placed under Social Dev. Department. This implies that local
governments’ management do not recognize the strategic place of public relations
as a full-pledge Department.
|
Table
6: Perception of Respondents on the responsibility of crisis communication
in local government |
||||||
|
|
Frequency |
Percent |
Valid
Percent |
|
||
|
Valid |
strongly
agree |
30 |
37.5 |
37.5 |
|
|
|
Agree |
24 |
30.0 |
30.0 |
|
||
|
Disagree |
18 |
22.5 |
22.5 |
|
||
|
strongly
disagree |
8 |
10.0 |
10.0 |
|
||
|
Total |
80 |
100.0 |
100.0 |
|
||
|
Source:
Field Survey (2021) |
|
|||||
The table 6 above,
indicated that out of the total respondents 37.5% strongly agreed, 30.0% agreed
22.5% disagreed whole the remaining 10.0% did not agree with a view that PR
Unit is responsible for crisis communication in local government. This
implies that local governments’ management do not recognize the strategic place
of public relations as responsible for crisis communication.
Research
Hypothesis is one:
1. The recognition of the
strategic place of public relations among local governments’ managements in
Kano state is low.
The above hypothesis was
tested using outputs from one sample T-test as shown in Table 7, to ascertain
the level of recognition that Local governments’ managements in Kano state
attached to the strategic place of public relations.
|
Table
7 One-Sample Test for testing hypothesis
one |
|
|||||
|
|
Test
Value = 0.05 |
|
||||
|
T |
df |
Sig.
(2-tailed) |
Mean
Difference |
95%
Confidence Interval of the
Difference |
|
|
|
Lower |
Upper |
|||||
|
PR
staff is part of the L.G. top Management. |
39.459 |
79 |
.000 |
2.875 |
2.73 |
3.02 |
|
Council
Meeting |
41.885 |
79 |
.000 |
2.825 |
2.69 |
2.96 |
|
PR
staff provides counseling services to L.G.executives |
28.113 |
79 |
.000 |
2.450 |
2.28 |
2.62 |
|
Information
section is responsible for PR matters undar Soc. Dev. |
21.688 |
79 |
.000 |
1.825 |
1.66 |
1.99 |
|
PR
section is responsible for events and campaigns management in your L.G. |
24.659 |
79 |
.000 |
2.075 |
1.91 |
2.24 |
|
News
gathering |
22.713 |
79 |
.000 |
2.075 |
1.89 |
2.26 |
|
Information
section is responsible for issues management in your L.G. |
32.153 |
79 |
.000 |
2.425 |
2.27 |
2.58 |
|
PR
section is responsible for crisis Communication management. |
17.799 |
79 |
.000 |
2.000 |
1.78 |
2.22 |
Source: Field Survey (2021)
The table 7 presents
analysis of responses on the level of recognition that Local governments’
management in Kano state attached to the strategic place of public relations.
It has been measured on an 8-item scale. It can be deduced from the table that,
the items were all below the test value of 3 and therefore statistically not
significant. This implies that, the recognition of strategic place of public
relations among Local governments’ managements in Kano state is low. This
result is in consonance with the findings of Asemah and Asogwa (2012) in their
study entitled “PR Strategies and the Administration of Jos North LGA Pleateau
State, Nigeria” that the extent to which L.G. recognizes and make use of
strategic PR is little.
Discussion
of Findings
Based on the consideration
of the data on tables 2,3,4,5, and 6 collected and processed in answering the
question, the result indicated that PR practitioners at the local government
ware not considered as part of the top management committee (Table2); they are
not even involved in council meetings (Table 3). Uduji (2012) observes that, as
a management function in local government, PR staff are allowed to attend
council meetings, as it is customary for them to have right to attend all
committee meetings. The management did not consider PR staff as responsible for
counseling services (Table 4) and crises communication (Table 6) as parts of
the duties of local government public relations officer. Counseling management
and crises communication are considered among the essential management function
of PR (Uduji, 2012; Rodman, 2006; Hanson, 2005). Thus, majority of the local
government management staff do not recognize the strategic place of public
relations in their administration. Gruning (2011) observed that organization
that recognize strategic PR function consider PR manager as one of the most
powerful managers in the organization. He or she is involved in the people who
make final decisions for the organization. Again Gruning (2011) found that in
excellent PR departments, the senior manager was part or easily could make
contact with the members of the dominant coalition. This pattern is apparent in
South Florida that local governments involve PR practitioners in strategic
planning. In those local governments Castelli (2007) found that PR
practitioners are part of the dominant coalition of the top management. In
contrast, the result indicates that PR practitioners in our study areas are
placed within a section under Social Development Department (Table 5) doing
technician role of PR (Table 7). This is consisted with the findings of Aniebo
(2015) that Ezeagu LGA in Enugu State has no full-fledged PR department, rather
information unit under secretary’s office. In contrast, Mavis (2013) found that
PR departments exist in many Local Government Councils in South-South, Nigeria.
Research
Objective Two: To determine the level of application of strategic public
relations in local government.
|
Table
8: Respondents Perception of the strategic application of PR research |
|||||
|
|
Frequency |
Percent |
Valid
Percent |
|
|
|
Valid |
None |
14 |
17.5 |
17.5 |
|
|
Little |
46 |
57.5 |
57.5 |
|
|
|
Average |
20 |
25.0 |
25.0 |
|
|
|
Total |
80 |
100.0 |
100.0 |
|
|
Source: Field Survey (2021)
The findings on table above
show the level of the application of PR research ticked by the respondents. 17%
reported experiencing none, 57.5% little and 25% average about local
governments’ research to identify their primary and secondary target audiences.
We can therefore, conclude based on this finding that the level of
strategic application of PR research in local government is little.
|
Table
8. Perception of Respondents on the
level of the application of effective communication in local government |
||||
|
|
Frequency |
Percent |
Valid
Percent |
|
|
Valid |
Little |
64 |
80.0 |
80.0 |
|
Average |
16 |
20.0 |
20.0 |
|
|
Total |
80 |
100.0 |
100.0 |
|
Source: Field Survey (2021)
The result from the table
above revealed that, 80% 0f the respondents endorsed little about communicating
effectively with local govern communities while the remaining 20% considered it
as an average. This implies that the level of the application of strategic
aspect of effective communication with local government publics is little.
|
Table
9. Perception of Respondents
on producing a periodic L.G. Communication Strategy |
|||||
|
|
Frequency |
Percent |
Valid
Percent |
|
|
|
Valid |
None |
60 |
75.0 |
75.0 |
|
|
Little |
14 |
17.5 |
17.5 |
|
|
|
Average |
6 |
7.5 |
7.5 |
|
|
|
Total |
80 |
100.0 |
100.0 |
|
|
Source: Field Survey (2021)
The Table above depicted
that, 75.0% of the respondents ticked none, and 17.5% ticked little, 17%
average about the level of producing a periodic local government Communication
Strategy. This implies that the pattern of local government communication is sporadic;
it is not based on planned Communication Strategy.
|
Table
10. Respondents’ Perception of the
strategic application of PR Objective settings |
||||
|
|
Frequency |
Percent |
Valid
Percent |
|
|
Valid |
None |
20 |
25.0 |
25.0 |
|
Little |
22 |
27.5 |
27.5 |
|
|
Average |
38 |
47.5 |
47.5 |
|
|
Total |
80 |
100.0 |
100.0 |
|
Source: Field Survey (2021)
The result obtained from
the table reflected 25% of the respondents who ticked none, 27.5% who ticked
little and 47.5% who ticked average about the strategic aspect of setting local
government objectives. This implies that the level of setting PR objectives
among local government PR staff is low.
|
Table
11. Perception of Respondents on the
application of strategic aspect of selection of right channels |
||||
|
|
Frequency |
Percent |
Valid
Percent |
|
|
Valid |
Little |
12 |
15.0 |
15.0 |
|
Average |
68 |
85.0 |
85.0 |
|
|
Total |
80 |
100.0 |
100.0 |
|
Source: Field Survey (2021)
The Table above depicted
that, 15.0% of the respondents ticked little, and 85.0% ticked average about
the selection of right channels for L.G. PR. Based on this finding we can
conclude that the level of strategic aspect of right media selection is
average among local government Information officers in Kano.
|
Table
12. Perception of Respondents on the
application of PR budgeting in local government |
||||
|
|
Frequency |
Percent |
Valid
Percent |
|
|
Valid |
Little |
52 |
65.0 |
65.0 |
|
Average |
28 |
35.0 |
35.0 |
|
|
Total |
80 |
100.0 |
100.0 |
|
Source: Field Survey (2021)
The table above indicated
that 65% of the respondents endorsed little application of effective budgeting
for PR campaign but the remaining 35% considered it as an average. We can
therefore, conclude based on this finding that application of effective budgeting
for PR campaign at the local government level is low.
|
Table
13. Perception of Respondents on the
level of L.G. PR evaluation |
|||||
|
|
Frequency |
Percent |
Valid
Percent |
|
|
|
Valid |
Little |
68 |
85.0 |
85.0 |
|
|
Average |
12 |
15.0 |
15.0 |
|
|
|
Total |
80 |
100.0 |
100.0 |
|
|
Source: Field Survey (2021)
The table 13 above shows
that in the aspect of applying PR evaluation strategies, 85% of the respondents
considered it little while the remaining 15% viewed it as an average. This
simply implies that there little application of PR evaluation in local government.
Research hypothesis two:
2. The application of
strategic public relations process among local government information officers
in Kano state is low.
The above hypothesis was
tested using outputs from one sample T-test as shown in Table 14, to ascertain
the application level of strategic public relations process among local
government information officers in Kano state.
|
The
table 14 One-Sample Test for testing hypothesis two |
|||||||
|
|
Test
Value = 0.05 |
||||||
|
T |
Df |
Sig.
(2-tailed) |
Mean
Difference |
95%
Confidence Interval of the Difference |
|||
|
Lower |
Upper |
|
|||||
|
About
research to identify their primary and secondary target audience. |
27.793 |
79 |
.000 |
2.025 |
1.88 |
2.17 |
|
|
About
communicating effectively with L.G. communities. |
47.774 |
79 |
.000 |
2.150 |
2.06 |
2.24 |
|
|
About
producing a periodic L.G. Communication Strategy |
18.646 |
79 |
.000 |
1.275 |
1.14 |
1.41 |
|
|
About
setting L.G. communication objectives. |
23.541 |
79 |
.000 |
2.175 |
1.99 |
2.36 |
|
|
About
selection of both suitable communication tools and a right channel. |
69.697 |
79 |
.000 |
2.800 |
2.72 |
2.88 |
|
|
About
effective campaign budgeting. |
42.860 |
79 |
.000 |
2.300 |
2.19 |
2.41 |
|
|
About
evaluation of success or failure of L.G. PR campaigns. |
52.273 |
79 |
.000 |
2.100 |
2.02 |
2.18 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Source: Field Survey (2021)
Table 14 presents analysis
of responses on the application of strategic public relations process among
Local government information officers in Kano state. The outputs of one sample
T-test from the table above indicate that, the items were all below the test
value of 3 and therefore statistically not significant. This implies that the
application of strategic public relations process among Local government
information officers in Kano state is low
Discussion
of Findings
Tables 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and
13 were used in answering the question. Table 8 sought to find out the extent
to which Information officers in local government apply research to identify
their primary and secondary target audiences. Findings indicate that, the
application of PR research in local governments is little .This is based on the
response of 75% of the respondents who believed that it is little or none at
all. Table 8 sought to find out the extent to which Information officers
communicate effectively with their publics. The outputs show that 80% of the
respondents viewed it as little while the rest of the respondents considered it
as average. This implies that the strategic aspect of effective communication
with local government publics is little. Table 9 sought to find out the extent
to which Information officers carry out their services based on the local
government Communication strategy. The findings reveled that, local governments
have had never produced any Communication Strategy to guide their services.
This is because 92.55% of the respondents indicated their either unawareness of
such document or using in their local government councils. Table 10 sought to
find out the extent to which Information officers set PR objectives at the
local government level. The results indicate that the level of setting PR
objectives is low as 52.5% of the respondents assented. On Table 11 witch
measured the strategic function of selection of right channels, the findings
show that the level of this aspect is average among local government
Information officers in Kano as endorsed by 85% of the respondents. The results
of making effective budget for PR activities show that PR budget at the local
government level as 65% of the respondents indicated in Table 12. More over
Table 13 presented data on the extent to which Information officers in local
government carryout evaluation to determine the success or failure of their PR
activities. The results clearly show that the level of PR evaluation function
at the local government is low. This is because 85% of the respondents reported
that it was little. All the aforementioned results indicate the low level of
local government’s application of strategic approach to PR. This coincided with
the findings of Asemah and Asogwa (2012) in their study entitled “PR Strategies
and the Administration of Jos North LGA Pleateau State, Nigeria” that the
extent to which L.G. recognizes and make use of strategic PR is little. They
observed that local governments dish out information on occasional basis. This
implies that local governments do not manage PR activities strategically.
Moreover, Mavis (2013) in his study Public Relations Practice in selected local
government in South-South, Nigeria found the level of strategic PR practice in
many local governments was low.
In sum, the researchers
found that the local government management staff do not recognize public
relations as an essentially a strategic management function. Thus, public
relations officer is not part of the dominant coalition of local government.
The local governments in Kano State have no specific public relations
department, rather information unit under Social Development Department.
Moreover, the extent to which local government information officers apply
strategic approach to public relations campaign especially in the aspect of
public relations research, objective setting, communication, selection of both
target audience and right channel and public relations evaluation in Kano State
is little. Local governments do not have a guiding document on their
communication strategy. Thus, the pattern of local government public relations
is sporadic. The activities of public relations are being done on occasional
basis as well as during emergencies that require public relations intervention.
Conclusion
Public relations function
has to be recognized as an essentially strategic management function not only
at the management level of local government, but in all organizations that want
create and maintain mutual relationship with their publics. This is based on
the strong evidence that, in excellent public relations, practitioners are
involved in the people who make final decisions for the organization those that
referred them by sociologists as dominant coalition. PR will never be able to
effectively discharge its functions when it remains considered as technician
role rather than a managerial function.
Recommendations
1. The local
governments should develop communication strategy for their public relations
services and policies, which will serve as a guide towards the attainment of
complete and planned strategic public relations.
2. Public
relations department should be established in local governments so as to get a
place in the coalition of local government management.
3. Local
government should recognize public relations as an essentially a strategic
management function.
4. Local
government information officers should apply strategic approach to public
relations campaign especially in the aspect of public relations research,
objective setting, communication, selection of both target audience and right
channel and public relations evaluation.
5. The local
government management should consider PR staff as responsible for counseling
services, crises communication and other essential strategies of strategic PR.
6. Local
government should produce a guiding document on communication strategy which
provides focus and direction for communication with publics.
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Article Citation: Abubakar
Musa Mijinyawa & Usman Ibrahim Abubakar (2020). The Place of Local
Government Strategic Public Relations in Kano State. DEGEL: The Journal
of the Faculty of Arts and Islamic Studies, Vol. 18, No. 2. ISSN
0794-9316
THE PLACE
OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT STRATEGIC PUBLIC RELATIONS IN KANO STATE
By
Abubakar
Musa Mijinyawa & Usman Ibrahim Abubakar
Abstract
The paper investigated the place of local government strategic
communication and its application in Kano State. The objectives of the study
were to: (1) determine the extent to which local governments’ management staff
recognize the strategic place of public relations and (2) the level of
application of strategic public relations in LG. Data were collected through
distribution of questionnaires to 90 respondents who were purposively selected
in 9, local government council from the 3 senatorial districts of the State.
Results obtained from descriptive statistics ran on Statistical Package for
Social Science (SPSS); indicate that (a) majority of the local government’s
management staff do not recognize the strategic place of public relations in
their administration; and (b) the application of strategic public relations
among local government information officers in the state is low. To validate
the results, T-test was used for statistical analysis; the finding indicates
that the recognition of strategic place of public relations among local
governments’ management in Kano state is low. Again the output of One-sample
T-test for the second hypothesis indicates that the application of strategic
public relations process among local government information officers in Kano
state is low. Based on the findings, it is recommended that there should be an
urgent need for the establishment of public relation department in local
government councils. Local government management should consider PR staff as
responsible for all strategic public relation planning and its effective
application in local government councils.
Introduction
Public Relations in the
21st Century, is a strategic management function that uses communication
strategies to build and maintain relationship between organizations and their
publics (Parsons, 2010). In its common parlance, strategy is a plan or set of plan
intended to achieve something, especially over a long period. Although strategy
is a fluid concept that has multiple meanings with a much nuance; there is a
consensus among management scholars that, strategy is essentially concerned
with a process of managing the interaction between an organization and its
publics so as to ensure the best fit between the two (Moss, Vercic and Warnaby
2000). Strategic approach to PR is a topic of recurring interest in the
literature of public relations. It is a pivot of any public relations activity
or campaign and a foundation of public relations process as evidenced in many
public relations definitions and processes. There is strong emphasis on the
positioning of public relations as essentially a function that resolves around
strategy (Mijinyawa, 2018).
The provision of local
government strategic communication on the other hand is well pronounced among
the four basic objectives for establishing local government in the 1976 local
government reform. The forth objective enshrined, is to provide a two-way channel
of communication between local government authorities and their publics
(Ministry of Inter-Governmental Affairs 2006). Thus, the concept envisages the
existence of a two-way communication with inbuilt strategies that requires
strategic approach. Arguably looking at the aforementioned illustration,
strategic communication is part of the overall mission of local government
administration. The 1976 local government reform and subsequent entrenchment of
the vital provision of these reforms in the 1979 Nigerian constitution set the
stages for increased concern about and awareness of local government in
Nigeria. The cornerstone of these reforms was the emergence of local government
as tier of government in Nigeria alongside the State and the Federal Government
(Ikejiani 1995; Garba 2001).
Statement
of the Problem
Public relations is
associated with essential strategic management function by public relations
pundits and professionals especially in the 21st century. In
Nigeria, a series of Local Government Scheme of Service since 1976 to 2006 has
assigned the information cadre with the responsibility of all strategic public
relations function. Thus, the 1976 local government reform stipulated the
provision of a two-way channel of communication between local communities and
their publics as part of the numerous functions of local governments.
Ideally strategic approach
to public relations should be apparent, especially at the grassroots level
where social expectations of the people are high as the actions of government
are expected to touch their lives most profoundly. But researchers (Asemah and
Asogwa 2012) have observed that the local government managements’ attitude seem
lukewarm about local government public relations unit and its strategic
function. There may be discrepancy between theoretical positioning of public
relations as a strategic management function and its practical application at
the local government(s) level. Achor and Okeyi (2015) observe that, there is
need for empirical study on the activities of government information management
and application of PR strategies.
It is against this
background that this study sets to find out (1) the extent to which local
governments’ management staff recognize the strategic place of public relations
and (2) the level of application of strategic public relations in the local
government.
Literature
Review
Strategic communication
interventions are multi-faceted, systematically planned and carefully designed
communication process and media products that aim at increasing knowledge or
change attitudes and practice in target audience (Technische, 2006). UNICEF
(2005) also defined it as an evidence-based, result-oriented process,
undertaken in consultation with the participant… groups to stimulate positive
and measurable behavior and social change. Pinkelton and Austen (2001) viewed
it as a statement of communication terms that will be used to accomplish
specific public relations objective. According to Technische (2006) the process
of developing a strategic communication plan can be divided into two major
parts. The first part is the process of strategic development planning (“what
to do”) while the second part is the process of management planning (“how to
make it happen”). Aragati, Robert and Beck (2005) added by describing as
“communication aligned with the company’s overall strategy to enhance its
strategic positioning”. It is a way to use resources – human, financial and
physical – to help an organization achieve its goals. (Newsom, Turk and
Kuchckberg, 2010). Strategic communication is crucial to an organizational
process.
Local
Government Public Relations in Nigeria
Local government public
relations is derived from the pronouncement of a series of local government
schemes of service for local government employees in Nigeria since 1976 up to
the current (2006) edition which assigned the information cadre with a responsibility
of all public relations matters. Item 2.3.2 of the (2006) edition assigned
taking charge of information, publicity and public relations matters in the
local government as parts of the duties of local government information offices
on grade level 10. Similarly item 2.6.3 assigned Chief Information Officer on
GL/14 a duty of evaluating successes achieved by various publicity and
communication media among some other relevant strategic public relations
functions. On the objectives of local government public relations, Black (1989)
stated the following as main objectives of public relations at local government
level.
· To keep people informed of
council’s policy and day to day activities.
· To give the public an
opportunity to express views on important projects before final decisions are
reached.
· To enlighten people on the
way in which the system of local government works and to inform them of their
rights and responsibilities.
· To promote a sense of civic
pride.
Recognition
of the Strategic Place of Public Relations
It was observed that there
is an increasing consensus among public relations pundits and professional that
public relations should advance beyond technician role to strategic function
Shansan and Otieo (2015) say technician public relations role involve: writing,
editing, running special events. Pimplot (1951) as cited in Richard (2016)
opined that public relations technicians are primarily concern with writing,
producing and disseminating communications such as presss release, speeches web
sites, features stories and annual report. But to Shansan and Otieo (2015)
public relation must be part of strategic management at the general level to
achieve an organizational state goal. The organization which recognizes public
relations professionals as part of the group managers who make the final
decision for the organization, appreciates the strategic place of public
relations. Strategic public relation provides the top level management with
vast means of communication to the public in order to be in touch with its clients.
According to Mijinyawa (2018) PR will never be able to effectively discharge
its functions when it remains considered as technician role rather than a
managerial function. Shansan and Otieo (2015) say strategic public relations
manager role focuses on activities that help identify and solve public
relations problems in such a way that top management will understand its value
and demand it most profoundly. According to Achor and Okoye (2015) the desired
status of government PR is achieved when PR is accorded top management
functions in different organizations. Holtzhausen (2012) observed that the
focus on public relations as a strategic management function has possibly made
the biggest contribution to establish public relations as a serious field of
study.
To be strategic, public
relations professionals need accurate information about the situation, their
target publics, public relations tools, the effectiveness of their
communication strategies and the overall impact the programme has on building
and maintaining relationship with their critical stakeholders. Therefore, an
effective communication strategy is designed to reach out an organization
target publics (whether internal or external publics) with the sole aim of
achieving the organizational goals by establishing and maintaining mutual
understanding. (Newson, Turk and Krukbert, 2010) assert that “strategies
represents how we plan to get there”. According to Akande (1999) the main
objective in planning a public relations programme is to change people, not a
change from bad to worse or by feeding them with spurious information with a
view of winning them over, but rather, through education and enlightenment to
increase knowledge and understanding. Nwosu (2003) in Achor and Okeye (2015)
advocates that governments’ communication and information management must
ensure that PR philosophy and strategies are ingrained in every aspect of
government policies and plan.
Application
of Strategic Public Relations in Local Government Areas
Looking at the local
government Public Relation Patterns, there are two essential classifications of
local government public relations efforts in Nigeria. Naemeka (1991) in (Salu
1993) provided a distinction between planned and sporadic public relations efforts.
According to him planned public relations efforts are deliberately designed to
fit into the overall administrative and programmatic scheme of the
organization, budget management and programmes, either in the short or long
term. Sporadic Public Relations efforts on the other hand, lack must of these
essential characteristic of planed public relations efforts. The former unlike
the latter occur in scattered and non-sequential order of events; they do not
reveal any coherent mission or corporate posture which the set of events or
programmes that compose the public relations efforts are expected to build up
to and generally such sporadic public relations activities are never programmed
to fit into the overall scheme of operation of an organization. Uduji (2012)
observed that the application of strategic PR encompasses the following:
Research, Setting objectives, Selection of the right media, Budgetting,
Counselling services and evaluation.
Castelli (2007) found that
little research has been conducted on the way public relations are being
practiced in public organizations. In a study conducted by Asemah (2012) titled
public relations strategic and administration of Jos North local government
area Plateau State, Nigeria, found that, local government recognition and usage
of public relations is little. It also concluded that although the local
government endeavors to inform people about its policies and programmes, public
relations practice in local government and the information provided is done on
occasional basis. Thus, the pattern of public relations in that local
government is sporadic.
However, Aniebo (2015)
found that Ezeagu Local Government Area in Enugu State has no full-fledged
public relations department, rather information unit under secretary’s office.
Similarly, Ugbor (2010) in a study entitled “Public Relations and Administration
in Nigeria: A case study of the activities of Public Relations Officer in
Iswkwoato Local Government Area, Abia State” found that, most public relations
practitioners at local government levels practiced a two-way communication
public relations model, but they have the most expertise in the public
information and press agentry model.
It was discovered that
little research has been conducted on the way public relations is being
practiced in public organizations especially at the local government level.
Also it has been found that, while there is wealth of literature positioned and
emphasized public relations as an essentially a strategic management function,
research on how organization manage public relations strategically is rare.
Indeed, there is quite number of focus areas of the strategic management of
public relation that are not receiving scholarly attention, as Moss, Vercic and
Wanarby (2000:71) rightly observed “very few empirical studies have been
conducted into strategic management function as well as how the public relation
function itself can be manage strategically”.
Strategic
Public Relations Process
The strategic communication
for public relations consists of a number of steps as devised by various public
relations pundits ranging from a four-step up to fourteen-step process as
follow:
RACE model describes public
relations as a four-step continually-cycling process. R, stand for researches,
A, stands for Action, C, stands for Communication, and E, stands for
Evaluation. Cutlip, Center and Broom, (2000) similarly noted four-step public relations
process as fact finding and feedback; Planning and programming; Action and
communication; Evaluation. Black (1989) devised four-step process which he
called it a typical public relations activity. Also, Centre and Jeckson (1995)
defined the public relations process through four-step. Another four-step
public relation planning was proposed by Seitel (1989). Moreover, Hendix and
Hayes (2010) introduced the ROPE model as Research, Objectives, Programming and
Evaluation. Jethwanney and Sarkar (2012) suggested four-point public relations
planning model. Hanson (2005) suggested four-steps in strategic public
relations planning. Mijinyawa (2018) proposed PR IDEA model as Investigation,
Design, Execution and Assessment.
Furthermore, for the
five-step strategic planning, Castelli (2007) developed ROSE. Another important
five – step public relations planning model is STARE. However, in his model,
Jefkins, (1988) suggested six-steps: Application of situation; Definition of
objectives; Definition of publics; Selection of media and techniques; Budge;
and Assessment of result. Akande, (1999), outlined seven-step public relations
model. Another important seven-step model was developed by Stephens, (2011).
Wilcox (2006) offered eight components of public relations plan. Orraca –
Tetth, (1986) developed nine-step planning process. Smith (2009) noted
four-phases nine-step strategic public relations planning process.
Coulson (1979) identified
ten-point planning model which he called it systematic approach to public
relations programme. Broom and Dozier (1990) offered ten steps strategic public
relations planning. Another important ten-point planning model was devised by
Naveed (2016). Newsom and Haynes, (2011), suggest a dozen steps that make
public relations work. Similarly, Nnabuku (2007) suggested a dozen steps for
effective public relations campaign. Nwosu in Anyaugu and Uduji (2012)
identified comprehensive forteen-steps in public relations campaign.
The paper enumerated a
plethora of different public relations processs, ranging from the four-step up
to the fourteen-point strategic planning. While there are a number of various
ways of looking at the process, they all include the four-step: research, objectives,
programming and evaluation (ROPE). The ROPE model is among the most widely-used
public relations process. The model primarily consists of four-steps: using
research to define the problem or situation, developing objectives, programming
that addresses the strategic communication and then evaluating the result of
public relations in order to measure how well the programme accomplished its
objectives.
Related
Theories
Strategic communication for
public relations can be hinged on a plethora of theories to explain the
relationship between various actions and events in the public relations domain.
Lattimore, Baskin, Heiman, Toth and Van Leuven (2004) marshaled various theories
relevant to public relations practice of relevance to the study include the
following: System theory; Situational theory; Action assembly theory; Diffusion
theory; social learning theory and Agenda setting theory. Apart from the
aforementioned theories, Structural functionalism theory, Institutional theory;
Information-processing theory and Cognitive Balance theory too are found to be
relevant to this study. Specifically, the two-way symmetric model as posited by
Grunting and Hunt (1984) serves as the theoretical frame for this paper.
Two-Way Symmetrical
Communication Model: The two-way symmetrical communication model was first
introduced by James Gruning and Larissa Gruning. Stephens and Greenberg (2011)
say the Grunigs’ theory has more to do with communication style. They
considered and rejected both one-way asymmetrical communication and two
way-asymmetrical communications because neither one emphasized the subjects.
They suggested that communication must start with understanding the wants and
needs of the public; something that asymmetrical communication fails to do. The
two-way communication model lays emphases on the need to find way of
communication between an organization and its publics… That it calls for
feedback. The organization needs to know about its publics and vis-Ã -vis. This
would therefore facilitate both mutual understanding and achievement of the aim
and objectives of the organization. Through the model members of the community
are kept abreast of government policies and programs. Obviously, local
governments have a firm duty to inform the community of their activities and to
put the council view of matter of concern to that community. Some of the most
important inbuilt aspects of strategic communication contained the two-way
communication of the model include the following:
· Identification of the
communication objectives
· Selection of Local
Government target publics
· Selection of the right
channel
· Devising communication
messages that must have guiding ideas
· Giving message to the right
public through the right channels at the right time and
· Evaluation.
Asemah (2010) in Asemeh and
Asogwa (2012) note that, the two-way communication of the model is basically a
way for two groups of people to share ideas and hopefully gain something from
the experience. The above represents an indicative, rather than a comprehensive
list of the many theories underpinning communication strategies to change,
create and maintain favorable behavior or attitude towards an object, situation
or programme in public relations domain. Hence, they are relevant theories in
creating and maintaining a positive public attitude towards a product or
service or the organization itself.
Research
Questions
1. Do local governments’
management recognize the strategic place of the public?
2. Do local government
information officers apply strategic approach to public relations?
Methodology
Research
Design
The descriptive survey
method was adopted because it gives a picture of a situation and serves as a
basic method for describing current condition or attitude, that is, to explain
what exists at the moment. Ujo (2000:89) observed that, it studies group of
people or items by collecting and analyzing data from only few people or items
considered being representative of the group. Survey is used due to its virtue
to study both large and small population to discover a relative incidence,
distribution and interrelation of sociological and psychological variables
(Osuala, 2007:253).
Population
of the Study
The population of this
study is the entire 44 LGA management staff and Information Officers. The
researcher used the members of the local government management committee as the
respondents. Local government management committee consists of 10 categories of
target population who are as follows:
(1) Director of Personnel
Management (2) Chief Personnel Officer (3) HOD Social Development (4) HOD
Agriculture (5) HOD Primary Health Care (6) HOD Planning Research and
Statistics (7) HOD Treasury (8) HOD Works and Housing (9) HOD Staff Officer and
(10) Information Officer.
Although, Information
Officers are not part of the Management Committee but are included in the
categories; based on the consideration of their direct involvement in the local
government communication process. Hence 10 respondents were selected in each local
government area. Multiplying the number of respondents by the number of the
local government areas, the aggregate population of this study therefore, is
put at 440 personnel of LGs in Kano State.
Target
Population
DPM X 44 LGAs =44
CPO X 44 LGAs =44
HOD Soc. Dev. X 44 LGAs =44
HOD Agric X 44 LGAs =44
HOD PRS X 44 LGAs =44
HOD PHC X 44 LGAs =44
HOD W&H X 44 LGAs =44
HOD Treasury X 44 LGAs =44
SO X 44 LGAs =44
IO X 44 LGAs =44
440
Sample
Size
To determine the sample
size, the researchers purposively selected 90 respondents to represent the
aggregate population of the study. The justification for the use of purposive
sampling is that the local government management staff committee is pronounced
in the local government standing committees in Kano State.
However, for the selection
of the study areas, nine local government councils were randomly selected based
on clusters from the local governments in the three Senatorial Districts of
Kano State that comprise Kano-Central, Kano-South and Kano-North. Therefore, in
each of the three Senatorial Districts three local governments were selected.
The three selected local governments in Kano-Central include: Dala, Gwale and
Kano Municipal Local Government Area, while in Kano-South, Gaya, Bunkure and
Bebeji were selected, and in Kano-North Bichi, Dawakin Tofa and Dambatta were
selected.
Analysis
Statistical Package for
Social Science (SPSS) version 23 was employed in data analysis. The data
collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics, simple percentage and
frequency counts.
Data
Presentation and Anaysis
This part presents the
analysis of the collected data from the administered questionnaires. The
analysis is presented based on the (2) specific objectives of the study.
Research
Objective One: To determine the extent to which local governments’
management recognize the strategic place of public relations.
Table
1: Distribution and Return of the questionnaires
|
Dala |
Gwale |
Kano Mun. |
Gaya |
Bebeji |
Bunkure |
Bichi |
D/ Tofa |
Dam batta |
Total |
|
|
Distributed |
10 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
90 100% |
|
Returned |
10 |
8 |
10 |
8 |
7 |
10 |
10 |
9 |
8 |
80(88.8%) |
|
Not returned |
0 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
10(11.2%) |
Source: Field Survey
(2021).
The table above shows that,
out of the 90 copies of the distributed questionnaires 80 (88%) were returned.
The returned copies were considered adequate enough to represent the
population. Therefore all the data presentation and analysis were based on the
returned questionnaires. Below are the results of descriptive statistics
obtained from the respondents.
Table 2.
Respondents’ perception of the place of public relations in local government
top management committee.
|
Frequency |
Percent |
Valid Percent |
|
|
Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Total |
20 46 14 80 |
25.0 57.5 17.5 100.0 |
25.0 57.5 17.5 100.0 |
Source: Field Survey (2021)
The result on the table
above shows majority of the respondents constituting 75% (57.5% & 17.5%)
were either disagree or strongly disagree that public relations staff is part
of the local government top management committee but, the remaining 25% agreed
with the statement. We can therefore, conclude from the result that local
government top managements do not recognize public relations as a managerial
function.
Table 3. Perception
of Respondents on the place of public relations in local government council
meeting
|
Frequency |
Percent |
Valid Percent |
|
|
Valid Agreed Disagreed Strongly Disagree Total |
20 50 10 80 |
25.0 62.5 12.5 100.0 |
25.0 62.5 12.5 100.0 |
Source: Field Survey (2021)
The findings from the table
above show that, 25% of the respondents agreed with the statement that local
government public relations staff takes part in the executive council meeting
but most of the respondents 62% disagreed, alongside 12.5% who strongly
disagreed with the statement. This implies that local governments’ management
do not recognize the strategic place of public relations to have a seat in the
executive council meeting.
|
Table 4. Perception
of Respondents on the place of PR in the provision of advice and
counseling services to local government executives. |
|||||
|
|
Frequency |
Percent |
Valid
Percent |
|
|
|
Valid |
Strongly
agree |
10 |
12.5 |
12.5 |
|
|
Agree |
24 |
30.0 |
30.0 |
|
|
|
Disagree |
42 |
52.5 |
52.5 |
|
|
|
strongly
disagree |
4 |
5.0 |
5.0 |
|
|
|
Total |
80 |
100.0 |
100.0 |
|
|
Source: Field Survey (2021)
Data in table above shows
that 12.5% of the respondents strongly agree, 30% agree but 52.5% disagree as
well as 5.0 % which strongly disagree with the view that PR staff provides
advice and counseling services to local government executives. We can therefore,
conclude based on this finding that local governments’ management do not
recognize the strategic place of public relations as responsible
for advice and counseling services.
|
Table 5: Perception of Respondents on the
PR Department in local government |
|||||
|
|
Frequency |
Percent |
Valid
Percent |
|
|
|
Valid |
strongly
agree |
28 |
35.0 |
350 |
|
|
Agree |
34 |
42.5 |
42.5 |
|
|
|
Disagree |
18 |
22.5 |
22.5 |
|
|
|
Total |
80 |
100.0 |
100.0 |
|
|
Source: Field Survey (2021)
As indicated in table 5
above, out of the total response 77.5% either agreed or strongly agreed that
information and PR placed under Social Dev. Department. This implies that local
governments’ management do not recognize the strategic place of public relations
as a full-pledge Department.
|
Table
6: Perception of Respondents on the responsibility of crisis communication
in local government |
||||||
|
|
Frequency |
Percent |
Valid
Percent |
|
||
|
Valid |
strongly
agree |
30 |
37.5 |
37.5 |
|
|
|
Agree |
24 |
30.0 |
30.0 |
|
||
|
Disagree |
18 |
22.5 |
22.5 |
|
||
|
strongly
disagree |
8 |
10.0 |
10.0 |
|
||
|
Total |
80 |
100.0 |
100.0 |
|
||
|
Source:
Field Survey (2021) |
|
|||||
The table 6 above,
indicated that out of the total respondents 37.5% strongly agreed, 30.0% agreed
22.5% disagreed whole the remaining 10.0% did not agree with a view that PR
Unit is responsible for crisis communication in local government. This
implies that local governments’ management do not recognize the strategic place
of public relations as responsible for crisis communication.
Research
Hypothesis is one:
1. The recognition of the
strategic place of public relations among local governments’ managements in
Kano state is low.
The above hypothesis was
tested using outputs from one sample T-test as shown in Table 7, to ascertain
the level of recognition that Local governments’ managements in Kano state
attached to the strategic place of public relations.
|
Table
7 One-Sample Test for testing hypothesis
one |
|
|||||
|
|
Test
Value = 0.05 |
|
||||
|
T |
df |
Sig.
(2-tailed) |
Mean
Difference |
95%
Confidence Interval of the
Difference |
|
|
|
Lower |
Upper |
|||||
|
PR
staff is part of the L.G. top Management. |
39.459 |
79 |
.000 |
2.875 |
2.73 |
3.02 |
|
Council
Meeting |
41.885 |
79 |
.000 |
2.825 |
2.69 |
2.96 |
|
PR
staff provides counseling services to L.G.executives |
28.113 |
79 |
.000 |
2.450 |
2.28 |
2.62 |
|
Information
section is responsible for PR matters undar Soc. Dev. |
21.688 |
79 |
.000 |
1.825 |
1.66 |
1.99 |
|
PR
section is responsible for events and campaigns management in your L.G. |
24.659 |
79 |
.000 |
2.075 |
1.91 |
2.24 |
|
News
gathering |
22.713 |
79 |
.000 |
2.075 |
1.89 |
2.26 |
|
Information
section is responsible for issues management in your L.G. |
32.153 |
79 |
.000 |
2.425 |
2.27 |
2.58 |
|
PR
section is responsible for crisis Communication management. |
17.799 |
79 |
.000 |
2.000 |
1.78 |
2.22 |
Source: Field Survey (2021)
The table 7 presents
analysis of responses on the level of recognition that Local governments’
management in Kano state attached to the strategic place of public relations.
It has been measured on an 8-item scale. It can be deduced from the table that,
the items were all below the test value of 3 and therefore statistically not
significant. This implies that, the recognition of strategic place of public
relations among Local governments’ managements in Kano state is low. This
result is in consonance with the findings of Asemah and Asogwa (2012) in their
study entitled “PR Strategies and the Administration of Jos North LGA Pleateau
State, Nigeria” that the extent to which L.G. recognizes and make use of
strategic PR is little.
Discussion
of Findings
Based on the consideration
of the data on tables 2,3,4,5, and 6 collected and processed in answering the
question, the result indicated that PR practitioners at the local government
ware not considered as part of the top management committee (Table2); they are
not even involved in council meetings (Table 3). Uduji (2012) observes that, as
a management function in local government, PR staff are allowed to attend
council meetings, as it is customary for them to have right to attend all
committee meetings. The management did not consider PR staff as responsible for
counseling services (Table 4) and crises communication (Table 6) as parts of
the duties of local government public relations officer. Counseling management
and crises communication are considered among the essential management function
of PR (Uduji, 2012; Rodman, 2006; Hanson, 2005). Thus, majority of the local
government management staff do not recognize the strategic place of public
relations in their administration. Gruning (2011) observed that organization
that recognize strategic PR function consider PR manager as one of the most
powerful managers in the organization. He or she is involved in the people who
make final decisions for the organization. Again Gruning (2011) found that in
excellent PR departments, the senior manager was part or easily could make
contact with the members of the dominant coalition. This pattern is apparent in
South Florida that local governments involve PR practitioners in strategic
planning. In those local governments Castelli (2007) found that PR
practitioners are part of the dominant coalition of the top management. In
contrast, the result indicates that PR practitioners in our study areas are
placed within a section under Social Development Department (Table 5) doing
technician role of PR (Table 7). This is consisted with the findings of Aniebo
(2015) that Ezeagu LGA in Enugu State has no full-fledged PR department, rather
information unit under secretary’s office. In contrast, Mavis (2013) found that
PR departments exist in many Local Government Councils in South-South, Nigeria.
Research
Objective Two: To determine the level of application of strategic public
relations in local government.
|
Table
8: Respondents Perception of the strategic application of PR research |
|||||
|
|
Frequency |
Percent |
Valid
Percent |
|
|
|
Valid |
None |
14 |
17.5 |
17.5 |
|
|
Little |
46 |
57.5 |
57.5 |
|
|
|
Average |
20 |
25.0 |
25.0 |
|
|
|
Total |
80 |
100.0 |
100.0 |
|
|
Source: Field Survey (2021)
The findings on table above
show the level of the application of PR research ticked by the respondents. 17%
reported experiencing none, 57.5% little and 25% average about local
governments’ research to identify their primary and secondary target audiences.
We can therefore, conclude based on this finding that the level of
strategic application of PR research in local government is little.
|
Table
8. Perception of Respondents on the
level of the application of effective communication in local government |
||||
|
|
Frequency |
Percent |
Valid
Percent |
|
|
Valid |
Little |
64 |
80.0 |
80.0 |
|
Average |
16 |
20.0 |
20.0 |
|
|
Total |
80 |
100.0 |
100.0 |
|
Source: Field Survey (2021)
The result from the table
above revealed that, 80% 0f the respondents endorsed little about communicating
effectively with local govern communities while the remaining 20% considered it
as an average. This implies that the level of the application of strategic
aspect of effective communication with local government publics is little.
|
Table
9. Perception of Respondents
on producing a periodic L.G. Communication Strategy |
|||||
|
|
Frequency |
Percent |
Valid
Percent |
|
|
|
Valid |
None |
60 |
75.0 |
75.0 |
|
|
Little |
14 |
17.5 |
17.5 |
|
|
|
Average |
6 |
7.5 |
7.5 |
|
|
|
Total |
80 |
100.0 |
100.0 |
|
|
Source: Field Survey (2021)
The Table above depicted
that, 75.0% of the respondents ticked none, and 17.5% ticked little, 17%
average about the level of producing a periodic local government Communication
Strategy. This implies that the pattern of local government communication is sporadic;
it is not based on planned Communication Strategy.
|
Table
10. Respondents’ Perception of the
strategic application of PR Objective settings |
||||
|
|
Frequency |
Percent |
Valid
Percent |
|
|
Valid |
None |
20 |
25.0 |
25.0 |
|
Little |
22 |
27.5 |
27.5 |
|
|
Average |
38 |
47.5 |
47.5 |
|
|
Total |
80 |
100.0 |
100.0 |
|
Source: Field Survey (2021)
The result obtained from
the table reflected 25% of the respondents who ticked none, 27.5% who ticked
little and 47.5% who ticked average about the strategic aspect of setting local
government objectives. This implies that the level of setting PR objectives
among local government PR staff is low.
|
Table
11. Perception of Respondents on the
application of strategic aspect of selection of right channels |
||||
|
|
Frequency |
Percent |
Valid
Percent |
|
|
Valid |
Little |
12 |
15.0 |
15.0 |
|
Average |
68 |
85.0 |
85.0 |
|
|
Total |
80 |
100.0 |
100.0 |
|
Source: Field Survey (2021)
The Table above depicted
that, 15.0% of the respondents ticked little, and 85.0% ticked average about
the selection of right channels for L.G. PR. Based on this finding we can
conclude that the level of strategic aspect of right media selection is
average among local government Information officers in Kano.
|
Table
12. Perception of Respondents on the
application of PR budgeting in local government |
||||
|
|
Frequency |
Percent |
Valid
Percent |
|
|
Valid |
Little |
52 |
65.0 |
65.0 |
|
Average |
28 |
35.0 |
35.0 |
|
|
Total |
80 |
100.0 |
100.0 |
|
Source: Field Survey (2021)
The table above indicated
that 65% of the respondents endorsed little application of effective budgeting
for PR campaign but the remaining 35% considered it as an average. We can
therefore, conclude based on this finding that application of effective budgeting
for PR campaign at the local government level is low.
|
Table
13. Perception of Respondents on the
level of L.G. PR evaluation |
|||||
|
|
Frequency |
Percent |
Valid
Percent |
|
|
|
Valid |
Little |
68 |
85.0 |
85.0 |
|
|
Average |
12 |
15.0 |
15.0 |
|
|
|
Total |
80 |
100.0 |
100.0 |
|
|
Source: Field Survey (2021)
The table 13 above shows
that in the aspect of applying PR evaluation strategies, 85% of the respondents
considered it little while the remaining 15% viewed it as an average. This
simply implies that there little application of PR evaluation in local government.
Research hypothesis two:
2. The application of
strategic public relations process among local government information officers
in Kano state is low.
The above hypothesis was
tested using outputs from one sample T-test as shown in Table 14, to ascertain
the application level of strategic public relations process among local
government information officers in Kano state.
|
The
table 14 One-Sample Test for testing hypothesis two |
|||||||
|
|
Test
Value = 0.05 |
||||||
|
T |
Df |
Sig.
(2-tailed) |
Mean
Difference |
95%
Confidence Interval of the Difference |
|||
|
Lower |
Upper |
|
|||||
|
About
research to identify their primary and secondary target audience. |
27.793 |
79 |
.000 |
2.025 |
1.88 |
2.17 |
|
|
About
communicating effectively with L.G. communities. |
47.774 |
79 |
.000 |
2.150 |
2.06 |
2.24 |
|
|
About
producing a periodic L.G. Communication Strategy |
18.646 |
79 |
.000 |
1.275 |
1.14 |
1.41 |
|
|
About
setting L.G. communication objectives. |
23.541 |
79 |
.000 |
2.175 |
1.99 |
2.36 |
|
|
About
selection of both suitable communication tools and a right channel. |
69.697 |
79 |
.000 |
2.800 |
2.72 |
2.88 |
|
|
About
effective campaign budgeting. |
42.860 |
79 |
.000 |
2.300 |
2.19 |
2.41 |
|
|
About
evaluation of success or failure of L.G. PR campaigns. |
52.273 |
79 |
.000 |
2.100 |
2.02 |
2.18 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Source: Field Survey (2021)
Table 14 presents analysis
of responses on the application of strategic public relations process among
Local government information officers in Kano state. The outputs of one sample
T-test from the table above indicate that, the items were all below the test
value of 3 and therefore statistically not significant. This implies that the
application of strategic public relations process among Local government
information officers in Kano state is low
Discussion
of Findings
Tables 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and
13 were used in answering the question. Table 8 sought to find out the extent
to which Information officers in local government apply research to identify
their primary and secondary target audiences. Findings indicate that, the
application of PR research in local governments is little .This is based on the
response of 75% of the respondents who believed that it is little or none at
all. Table 8 sought to find out the extent to which Information officers
communicate effectively with their publics. The outputs show that 80% of the
respondents viewed it as little while the rest of the respondents considered it
as average. This implies that the strategic aspect of effective communication
with local government publics is little. Table 9 sought to find out the extent
to which Information officers carry out their services based on the local
government Communication strategy. The findings reveled that, local governments
have had never produced any Communication Strategy to guide their services.
This is because 92.55% of the respondents indicated their either unawareness of
such document or using in their local government councils. Table 10 sought to
find out the extent to which Information officers set PR objectives at the
local government level. The results indicate that the level of setting PR
objectives is low as 52.5% of the respondents assented. On Table 11 witch
measured the strategic function of selection of right channels, the findings
show that the level of this aspect is average among local government
Information officers in Kano as endorsed by 85% of the respondents. The results
of making effective budget for PR activities show that PR budget at the local
government level as 65% of the respondents indicated in Table 12. More over
Table 13 presented data on the extent to which Information officers in local
government carryout evaluation to determine the success or failure of their PR
activities. The results clearly show that the level of PR evaluation function
at the local government is low. This is because 85% of the respondents reported
that it was little. All the aforementioned results indicate the low level of
local government’s application of strategic approach to PR. This coincided with
the findings of Asemah and Asogwa (2012) in their study entitled “PR Strategies
and the Administration of Jos North LGA Pleateau State, Nigeria” that the
extent to which L.G. recognizes and make use of strategic PR is little. They
observed that local governments dish out information on occasional basis. This
implies that local governments do not manage PR activities strategically.
Moreover, Mavis (2013) in his study Public Relations Practice in selected local
government in South-South, Nigeria found the level of strategic PR practice in
many local governments was low.
In sum, the researchers
found that the local government management staff do not recognize public
relations as an essentially a strategic management function. Thus, public
relations officer is not part of the dominant coalition of local government.
The local governments in Kano State have no specific public relations
department, rather information unit under Social Development Department.
Moreover, the extent to which local government information officers apply
strategic approach to public relations campaign especially in the aspect of
public relations research, objective setting, communication, selection of both
target audience and right channel and public relations evaluation in Kano State
is little. Local governments do not have a guiding document on their
communication strategy. Thus, the pattern of local government public relations
is sporadic. The activities of public relations are being done on occasional
basis as well as during emergencies that require public relations intervention.
Conclusion
Public relations function
has to be recognized as an essentially strategic management function not only
at the management level of local government, but in all organizations that want
create and maintain mutual relationship with their publics. This is based on
the strong evidence that, in excellent public relations, practitioners are
involved in the people who make final decisions for the organization those that
referred them by sociologists as dominant coalition. PR will never be able to
effectively discharge its functions when it remains considered as technician
role rather than a managerial function.
Recommendations
1. The local
governments should develop communication strategy for their public relations
services and policies, which will serve as a guide towards the attainment of
complete and planned strategic public relations.
2. Public
relations department should be established in local governments so as to get a
place in the coalition of local government management.
3. Local
government should recognize public relations as an essentially a strategic
management function.
4. Local
government information officers should apply strategic approach to public
relations campaign especially in the aspect of public relations research,
objective setting, communication, selection of both target audience and right
channel and public relations evaluation.
5. The local
government management should consider PR staff as responsible for counseling
services, crises communication and other essential strategies of strategic PR.
6. Local
government should produce a guiding document on communication strategy which
provides focus and direction for communication with publics.
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