NIPR President inaugurates National Spokespersons Award committees

The President of the Nigeria Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), Dr Ike Neliaku, has inaugurated two committees on the forthcoming first edition of the Nigeria National Spokespersons’ Awards (NNSA) scheduled for March 2024.

This is part of the historic deal with the Image Merchants Promotion Limited (IMPR) – publishers of PRNigeria, Economic Confidential, Spokespersons’ Digest and other titles – for the transition of the annual Spokespersons’ Communication Awards (SCA) into NNSA.

Speaking as Chief Host of the 5th Security and Emergency Management Awards (SAEMA) and 3rd SCA held in Abuja on December 7, Neliaku stressed the importance of celebrating PR practitioners and spokespersons who promote and protect the image of their institutions as well as Nigeria’s.

Appreciating the IMPR for honouring outstanding PR professionals, he said the effort led the NIPR to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to expand the award and make it national. Both organisations will host the first National Spokespersons Summit and Workshop, under the NNSA, from 25th-28th of March, 2024.

“We recognise the importance of spokespersons in nation building; we insist that speaking and talking may not necessarily be communication. We decided to take the necessary expertise required to groom a generation of spokespersons that would not just speak for organisations, but speak for Nigeria,” Neliaku added.

Commenting on the country’s development, the NIPR President announced that the institute is hosting next year’s summit to support the Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation in fulfilling its mandate.

“The Minister, Mohammed Idris Malagi, a fellow of NIPR, values and understands what it is to communicate; communication is an essential part of his information management. He has used such knowledge and tactical PR skills to manage information and communication in the last few months.

“This helped to douse tension in the wake of the COP28 over-bloated delegate saga. He simply issued a statement categorising the number of representation and where these representations came from. That proactive action put a stop to the fake news,” Neliaku said.

The NNSA coordinating team include Segun McMedal, former Lagos NIPR Chairman (Chair); Comptroller Joseph Attah, NIPR Fellow; Mohammed Dahiru Lawal, Head of Fact-check and Investigation, PRNigeria; Saad Shuaib, Business Manager, PRNigeria; Mrs. Ekalome Udo; Mr. Stanley Ogadigwu (Secretary).

The jurist committee will be chaired by Professor Mabel Aworihoma. Prof. Anthony Igwefe, Dr Matins Akinam, Dr. Saudat Abdulbaki, Mr. Kabir Abdulsalam and Mr. Ishola Ayodele will serve as members. The Secretary is Mr. Abdulrahman Abdulraheem, Managing Editor of PRNigeria.

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