Customs CG Adeniyi bags IPRA Golden World Award

The Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Adewale Adeniyi, has received a Special Award of Excellence at the 2026 International Public Relations Association (IPRA) Golden World Awards.

Adeniyi received the recognition in Athens, Greece, on Friday, September 25, for the Customs Service’s approach to strategic communication, stakeholder engagement and ethical public relations.

The award highlights the Service’s communication efforts around its ongoing reforms, including Customs modernisation, trade facilitation and improved institutional transparency.

Speaking after receiving the award, Adeniyi described it as international recognition of the NCS reform programme. He said the honour would encourage the Service to expand its use of emerging technologies in public communication.

“We have started using AI tools in our public communication, and we view this recognition as an invitation to do more,” he said.

The Customs boss added that the Service hoped to see the NCS and other Nigerian government agencies feature more prominently among global award recipients by 2027.

Adeniyi also stressed the importance of communication to the success of government reforms. According to him, citizens and stakeholders need clear information about reform objectives, implementation challenges and expected benefits.

He linked the Customs reform agenda to the economic policies of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, particularly efforts to improve Nigeria’s trade competitiveness, facilitate exports and strengthen the country’s participation in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

The Comptroller-General also welcomed Nigeria’s success at the IPRA Grand Prix, which went to Image Merchants Promotion Limited (IMPR), publishers of PRNigeria and Economic Confidential.

IMPR won the Grand Prix for its campaign, “AI for Crisis Communication: From Study to Strategy.”

The campaign followed a research project led by IMPR Chief Executive Officer, Yushau Shuaib, in collaboration with the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and the Centre for Crisis Communication.

The research examined the growing challenges of artificial intelligence-driven misinformation, deepfakes and digital information disorder. It subsequently translated the findings into a strategic communication campaign.

Earlier, IPRA President Esther Cobbah welcomed participants to the 2026 gathering in Athens. She said the return to the Greek capital carried historical significance for the global public relations community.

According to Cobbah, Athens was where IPRA developed its Code of Conduct for public relations practice 60 years ago.

She said the 2026 event offered an opportunity to celebrate individuals, agencies and organisations that had applied ethical communication principles while achieving excellence in their work.

“Sixty years ago, in Athens, we built the code of ethics for public relations practice,” Cobbah said. “Today, we have come back to Athens to see how we have deployed those ethics in our work.”