Book title: Handbook on Public Relations Practice and Aviation Reporting
Author: Samuel Adurogboye
Publisher: SAPTCO Comm. Ltd
Reviewer: Emmanuel Ukpong
I believe I have a very simple job. It is simple because the author asked me to do the foreword, thereby making me a part of the project.
It is also a simple task because I tend to take a minimalist approach to book review. I believe a book should not be over reviewed. We should leave something for the reader to enjoy, learn, internalize and pass it on to the others. Essentially, my job is to arouse your curiosity of the would-be reader.
There’s an uncomplimentary maxim around here: If you want to hide something from a Nigerian, keep it in a book. Cash, envelopes, any valuables….It is another way of saying Nigerians don’t read. Generally speaking, I agree but only mildly.
However, I make bold to say that this maxim is not applicable here. It is not even close.
Warning: if you keep any valuables in this book, HANDBOOK ON PUBLIC RELATIONS PRACTICE AND AVIATION REPORTING, you may not find it again; you may not even know who took it. Why? It would have passed through so many hands. This is intentional.
Sam Adurogboye has presented a very unique production; unique in many respects. This is not an ordinary book.
It is loaded with 16 chapters of some of the information you may not find anywhere else. It is rich. It is colourful. It is sleek. It is attractive.
Each chapter opens with an explanatory note and concludes with references, which is proof of the painstaking effort and depth of research work that the author put into the book.
Not to speak in parables, the book has perspectives on:
* Journalism
*Public Relations
*Media Management
*Aviation Journalism
* Communication Theories – it is a scholarly work.
It is a technical work….it drips with technicalities in aviation. It gives a global view of aviation as well as legal/regulatory side of aviation
For a good measure, the book is also autobiographical.
Yes, autobiographical to the extent that, given the designs of his early life and the dire circumstances of his growing-up years, the author was not meant to be where he is today. But Sam Adurogboye lived and thrived.
In fact, the book presentation in Lagos on October 14, 2023, which capped his 60th birthday and retirement as the image maker of Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), is a testimony to the fact that God’s hand has been upon him all the while.
Chapter 1 captures all these and the many struggles and uncertainties of his early life.
Without wasting time, Chapter 2 ushers us into the heart of the book — Public Relations. It is a rich academic journey, replete with definitions and citations of authorities in the subject.
Chapter 3 is quite interesting. PR is often misunderstood. It means different things to different sectors of the public.
The author clears this web of confusion; he puts it to rest.
He calls this Chapter “What Is Not Public Relations.” A few things catch my attention.
Believe it or not, PR gets mixed up with call girls, ushering, those young girls in skimpy dresses hired to serve at events, killing adverse stories.
Management expects PR people to handle all these and still be addressed as PR managers
Chapter 3 spills into Chapter 4. This chapter is both scholarly and practical. It shows the author as a scholarly mind as well as an officer who had immersed himself in PR for NCAA.
In a very simple style, this chapter tells you how PR is done. It is a scientific, time-honoured approach to PR. It is all here.
Chapter 5 confronts one of the dilemmas of modern communications. Should PR necessarily be used to market bad products or services? In the chaos of social media and shifting political ideologies, it has become difficult to draw the line.
The author adds his reasoned and calm voice to this very important debate of the moment. It is another deep, well-thought out chapter.
In Chapter 6, the author shares his experience as a PR manager at NCAA. The office politics and intrigues…. It’s all here. This chapter reads like a thriller.
It is a very instructive chapter, especially for young, aspiring PR men and women. This chapter is packed with relevant documents, publications and charts.
But if you are searching for scandals, earth-shaking headlines or juicy gossip for the social media, it is actually the right chapter to ferret, my apologies, because you would be disappointed. Sam Adurogboye is too mature and reasoned for that.
I have taken time to summarise each chapter to give you a peek of the rest of the book.
For time and space, allow me to collapse the rest of the 10 Chapters. The author has discussed.
* PR Crisis and Management,
* the Codes of Conduct and Ethics of the Profession Communication Theory
* Media Relations
* Aviation as Global Business. This is loaded
* Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA)
*Aviation Reporting, which forms part of the title of the book
Sam Adurogboye’s book is a huge contribution to Public Relations and Journalism.
Sharing his experience is a gift to all aspiring practitioners.
All at once, it is a guide to success, a path to how he did it and a tribute to his admirable service to journalism, public relations and aviation.
