At 70, Nkechi Ali-Balogun Reflects on Life of Purpose, Persistence, Impact

Renowned public relations practitioner, Dr. Nkechi Ali-Balogun has built a flourishing career spanning over three decades and has contributed to the growth and practice of PR. A household name, Ali-Balogun recently turned 70, and shares her career milestones, reflecting on her journey, achievements, impact and life of gratitude, with** Ferdinand Ekechukwu**

Getting My Ph.D

Growing up I had an encounter with a man who just came back from Europe with a Ph.D. Why this encounter became a defining moment for me was because this guy was so boastful about this Ph.D. as if no one else on planet earth or in my community can ever earn a Ph.D. especially a woman. I just left secondary school then. Unfortunately, after university and with a good job and all the perks of office, I totally forgot that promise I made to myself. Then as turned 60, it hit me; no Ph.D. That started a journey in 2016. I never knew it would last that long, ASUU strikes, COVID and of course the one percent politics, I managed to finally make it in 2025.

Having My Daughter

I never knew in my life that someone would call me mother not after all my harrowing experiences trying to have a child. I gave up trying because I was satisfied with being called mummy by other people’s children especially my siblings besides it looked almost impossible that I would have a child, but God had another plan. My bundle of joy arrived 19 July and that day I knew why some mothers will call their child Onome (this is mine). Things started happening that made me realize that every woman must have a child of her own. Thank God it’s so easy to have a child today, never stay without one, the joy is indescribable.

** When I Got My First Job in the Bank**

I didn’t start out in Public Relations. My first job was as a school teacher, armed with nothing more than an NCE qualification and, I suppose, a quiet determination to make something of myself. But teaching was not where my story would end. I went back to school, and when I emerged with a degree, a new door opened — one that led me to the Nigerian Television Authority. I spent six years there, learning, growing, and finding my footing. And then came a moment I still look back on with quiet gratitude: a job offer at the Nigerian Export-Import Bank, with a salary that tripled what I had been earning at NTA.

My Employment at the Nigerian Television Authority in 1987

From a secondary school teacher to a producer in NTA, that was a significant and remarkable change and achievement just by a stroke of luck. I remember that day very vividly when I accidentally met the then Director General and walked up to him in my usual boldness and people-friendliness, to ask him for a job at the NTA. The only pain was that I couldn’t do news as I was told after auditioning that my voice was not good enough for news! I know better now though.

My First Social Intervention

One of my greatest passions in life is to find a way of putting smiles on people’s faces especially the less privileged. When I got a job in the bank, I registered an NGO, Right Initiatives and my first programme was empowering 500 women in a 3-day vocational skills training in soap making, events planning, bead making and ‘gele’ tying. It was such a fulfilling moment for me.

Becoming the First Female Chairman of NIPR

This was a milestone for me because it was my first eye-opener to the ugly and filthy world of politics where friends suddenly became your worst enemy and ready to drag you into the mud.

Founding the NECCI PR Roundtable

In 2000, five years after leaving the bank, an idea took hold of me: a platform where communicators would consistently place Nigeria’s most pressing issues on the national agenda and answer them with the tools of our profession. Twenty-six years later, that idea is still standing and still growing. The NECCI PR Roundtable has become more than a professional gathering. It has turned Public Relations into an instrument of national conversation, ethical leadership, and social development, lifting it out of the narrow world of image-making and placing it at the intersection of governance, business, technology, youth, women, investment, and ethics.

My First International Public Relations Training in Dubai

When I left the bank, I was certain of what I was going to do. I had discovered a gap in PR training in Nigeria. If you needed quality training in PR, you either went abroad or to the LBS for those who could afford it. This inspired me to start NECCI Limited (Training and Public Relations Consultants). The exciting thing about me is that everything I did growing up in my career was on hindsight. We took our training to Dubai. Our facilitators were hired from the UK, three of them and one from the US. We paid their expenses. In the Dubai training both public and private executives from oil and gas, banks, government agencies and more importantly, earning dollars, were in attendance.

My First PR Training

I had always wanted to train abroad. I had even tried to attend a university in the UK, but I couldn’t afford it. Looking back at the cost today, it seems so little—but at the time, it was beyond my reach. I was determined to learn and to acquire the skills to do the job properly. I wanted that overseas certificate too. As a young woman, I somehow believed it would be the icing on the cake. Today, I smile at how important that certificate seemed to the young woman I was. But I also recognise it for what it was: a milestone in the accidental journey that would become my PR career.

Giving My Life to Christ

I have saved the most important milestone in my life for the last. That was the day I gave my life to Christ. The day I surrendered completely to Him as my Lord and the God of my journey in 1987. That singular act changed the course of my life and transformed me spiritually and physically. My life in Christ gave me a new meaning to live having gone through a lot of diverse temptations and tribulations.