In a move that aims to enhance strategic communication and policy advocacy efforts, Bruit Costaud, an affiliate of Ballard Partners United States of America, USA, moved to partner with the newly appointed Minister of Finance, Mr. Wale Edun.
This was disclosed when Bruit Costaud, led by the former minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, paid a courtesy visit to Mr. Edun, on Thursday, in Abuja.
Mohammed said the firm, renowned for its track record in providing comprehensive political and legislative counsel services, seeks to work closely with the Ministry of Finance to effectively communicate national financial policies, economic initiatives, and reforms to stakeholders and the general public.
He said the move was also to bridge the gap between policy formulation and public awareness, fortifying the government’s ability to make informed decisions that impact the economy and society at large.
He added that the strategic communication aspect of the partnership will involve developing targeted campaigns and messaging strategies to effectively convey the government’s economic policies and reforms to the public and also improve public understanding and engagement with critical economic decisions.
He said: “We have come here to actually introduce our firm. Our firm which we constitute government affairs is actually an affiliate of the US Ballard partners. Ballard is a US firm of lobbyists and public relations and we represent them not just in Nigeria, but in Africa. So, we’re not just an affiliate of other partners, I am also a Ballad partner worldwide.
“We actually offer strategic communications, not because we believe that the directors of communications are not competent, but because we believe that we can add value to what they do. Even as a former life Minister for information and culture, I also at once, sometimes needed the services consultants because they are not inhibited like the people in the house are inhibited and you probably see much better what we do not see from the inside.
“We also act as commercial diplomats on behalf of our clients and this is because as a minister, you also need to interact very often with the legislative arm of government and we can take all on your behalf what we call commercial diplomacy which is being your ears and your eyes and when you are not there and largely in a formal setting. We travass both the executive and legislative arm of government. We also act as dispute resolution and we help in negotiations.
“More often than not what we hear about organizations is actually a negative aspect. Whereas there must be a sustained program of positive amplification of what is being done by entities, especially government. Actually our major value we can add to government organizations is actually strategic communication because we’ve been there before. We see that in governance, perception is often more important in reality, sometimes the perception becomes reality and this is one area I think we don’t pay attention and the media of 20 years ago is different from what it is now.
“So, we believe that we can assist the Minister, we can assist the ministry and we can help in the area of rebranding of the image of our clients. We also do what we call geopolitical intelligence and policy monitoring.”
Responding, Mr. Edun, while commending the effort of Mohammed and his team, said the Ministry would further consider the opportunity.
Alhaji Lai Mohammed was accompanied by former Minister Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Niyi Adebayo and former Minister of State Industry, Trade and Investment, Hajiya Aisha Abubakar, who are Senior Advisors of the PR Firm as well as senior Consultant, Govt Affairs, Olajumoke Bamigbola.
