Imperative of Public Relations in Policy Formulation and Implementation: A Study of the Taraba State Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law

Abstract

This study underscores the imperatives of public relations strategies in policy formulation and implementation with focus on the Taraba State open grazing prohibition and ranches establishment law, It contends that public relations is an important tool for enhancing positive perception and acceptance of public policies. Descriptive research design is adopted with survey as method of data collection. 399 copies of questionnaire were administered on residents of Taraba State. Findings indicate that even though the Taraba State government applied public relations strategies in the formulation and implementation of the Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment law, they were not adequately applied. The study then oncludes that the applicability of public relations strategies is key for the success of  government or organization’s policies and programmes, and that poor application of public relations in the case of the Taraba State anti-open grazing law led to the failure of the law in addressing cases of hostilities between herders and farmers. It then recommends that the government should embark on aggressive awareness campaign about the law using various public relations strategies such as celebrity endorsement, stakeholders’ meetings, press releases, jingles, media chats and town hall meetings to canvass for public acceptance of the Law.