The Nigeria Customs Service has received international recognition for its strategic communication and stakeholder engagement efforts, with Comptroller-General Adewale Adeniyi receiving a Special Award of Excellence at the 2026 International Public Relations Association Golden World Awards in Athens, Greece.
The recognition, presented on Friday, September 25, 2026, highlights the Service’s approach to transparent communication, stakeholder engagement and ethical public relations in supporting its ongoing reforms.
The reforms include efforts to modernise Customs operations, improve trade facilitation and strengthen institutional transparency.
Receiving the award, Adeniyi said the recognition would encourage the Service to deepen its use of emerging technologies, particularly artificial intelligence, in public communication and stakeholder engagement.
“We have started using AI tools in our public communication, and we view this recognition as an invitation to do more. By 2027, we hope the NCS and more Nigerian agencies will feature prominently among global award recipients,” he said.
Adeniyi said effective communication was critical to the success of government reforms because citizens and stakeholders needed to understand their objectives, implementation challenges and expected benefits.
He added that the Customs reform agenda aligns with the Federal Government’s economic policies, particularly efforts to improve Nigeria’s trade competitiveness, facilitate exports and strengthen the country’s participation in the African Continental Free Trade Area.
The Customs chief also highlighted Nigeria’s success at the IPRA Grand Prix, which was awarded to Image Merchants Promotion Limited, publishers of PRNigeria and Economic Confidential, for its campaign, “AI for Crisis Communication: From Study to Strategy.”
The campaign emerged from a research project led by IMPR Chief Executive Officer, Yushau Shuaib, in collaboration with the National Information Technology Development Agency and the Centre for Crisis Communication.
The project examined challenges linked to AI-driven misinformation, deepfakes and digital information disorder before translating its findings into a strategic communication initiative.
Earlier, IPRA President Esther Cobbah said the return to Athens was significant because the city was where the association developed its Code of Conduct for public relations practice 60 years ago.
She said the 2026 gathering provided an opportunity to recognise individuals, agencies and organisations that had applied ethical communication principles while delivering excellence in their work.
“Sixty years ago, in Athens, we built the code of ethics for public relations practice. Today, we have come back to Athens to see how we have deployed those ethics in our work,” Cobbah said.