On IMPR’s Historic IPRA Grand Prix
By Mohammed Dahiru Lawal
When our boss and CEO, Alhaji Yushau Shuaib hinted that organisers of the International Public Relations Association (IPRA) Golden World Award (GWA) has requested additional materials for our campaign entry this year, I felt something “huge” was coming what I didn’t know however was that it was going to be eminent, groundbreaking and historic.
Image Merchants Promotion Limited (IMPR) publishers of PRNigeria, Economic Confidential and Spokespersons Digest has in the last ten years consistently won both GWA and SABRE PR Awards back to back sometimes clinching more than one category especially in crisis communication, event management, publication to mention a few. This has solidified IMPR reputation as the continents most consequential PR, Strategic Communication and Crisis Management firm.
With its critical clientele and stakeholders across Finance, Technology, Security, Intellectual, Emergency and Response Agencies, IMPR has continued to execute cutting edge PR campaign strategies that shapes the reputation of its clientele and stakeholders which usually culminates in these awards annualy at the African and World PR Conferences.
So, that we are going to win an award again was not in doubt, what we didn’t know however was that it was going to be crown of it all, during a historical moment and in a historic place.
It was very disappointing when the CEO missed his Visa for an in-person travel to Athens, Greece to witness the occasion in-person, so when he shared the link to follow the procession live in Athens on the WhatsApp group, I tried to follow but couldn’t catch up due to network lag on my phone, moments later, he shared a short clip on the same WhatsApp group without any caption, may heart raced and I thought this must capture the moment.
Upon screening the clip, I saw the Controller General of Customs, Bashir Adawale Adeniyi taking an Award on behalf of IMPR, he was flanked by the Chairman of our Board Professor Sule Yau Sule and the Head of Corporate Communication, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Hajiya Hadiza Umar with whom we executed the campaign. Then, my eyes rested on the plaque, it gleamed and I screamed in excitement, “it’s the Grand Prix!”
That was a moment in a professional journey when history seems to fold in on itself, and the news was one of them. Clinching the IPRA Grand Prix, the highest distinction of the International Public Relations Association’s Golden World Awards, in the very city where the historic Code of Athens was adopted in 1965 is an entirely new bar IMPR has raised on the continents PR turf. For a firm that has collected Golden World Awards for a decade, this was not simply another trophy on the shelf, it was the summit!
I still remember the suspense of 2021, when Alhaji Yushau A. Shuaib read out the Global Creativity Index rankings from the bottom up while I held my breath waiting for IMPR’s name, only to learn it had topped the world. This time there was no countdown to endure, just the headline, plain and glorious.
The ceremony drew communication professionals and public institution representatives from more than 70 countries, and Nigeria walked away with multiple honours, the Grand Prix chief among them. The win makes IMPR the first Nigerian and West African public relations firm ever to receive the distinction.
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The winning project, “AI in Crisis Communication: From Study to Strategy,” deserves close attention, because its story is as instructive as its trophy. It began as a 107-page empirical study on artificial intelligence and crisis communication conducted by Shuaib with support from NITDA, alongside the Centre for Crisis Communication, the Nigeria Customs Service and other stakeholders. The research examined the rising threats of AI-driven misinformation, deepfakes and digital information disorder in Nigeria, then translated those findings into a working strategic communication initiative.
Rather than gathering dust on a shelf, as too many studies in this country do, it shaped the inaugural National Symposium on Digital Innovations in Crisis Communication and the proposed Crisis Communication Hub, designed to strengthen social listening, misinformation detection, early warning and coordinated crisis response.
That, in my view, is exactly why the jury in Athens was persuaded. The world has no shortage of reports about the dangers of AI. What it lacks are institutions that move from diagnosis to design, from study to strategy, and IMPR did precisely that.
There is a quiet irony in all of this that should not be lost on anyone. This was the kind of research the CEO had hoped to undertake during his time at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), before his withdrawal. The door that closed in Kuru did not end the idea but simply sent it on a longer road, and that road ended on a global stage in Greece. Some ideas are too important to be stopped by institutional walls, and this one proved it.
The Athens haul did not stop at the Grand Prix. IMPR also received two Golden World Awards in the AI in Crisis Management and Publication categories in collaboration with NITDA, collected by Professor Yau Sule of IMPR and Hajiya Hadiza Umar of NITDA. The Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, was also honoured with a Special Award of Excellence for his contributions to transparent communication and ethical public relations practice.
This victory also comes in a year that has already been generous. Just months ago, IMPR emerged as Africa’s Best Strategic Communication Agency in Crisis and Issues Management at the 2026 SABRE Africa Awards, taking Gold for its “War Against Drug Abuse” campaign for the NDLEA. From the Most Creative PR Agency in the world in 2020 to the Grand Prix in 2026, the trajectory is unmistakable.
The lesson I drew five years ago bears repeating, only louder now. Our governments, businesses and politicians do not need to ship scarce foreign exchange abroad to pay lobbyists and image consultants for work that home-grown firms can deliver better, with deeper local understanding and a proven record of global excellence. When the world’s most prestigious PR jury looks to Abuja for innovation in AI and crisis communication, the question of whether Nigerian expertise measures up has been answered in the most emphatic way possible.
To Alhaji Yushau A. Shuaib, whose vision keeps turning ideas into institutions, and to the entire IMPR family, congratulations are hardly enough. You have given Nigeria a reason to stand tall in the room where modern public relations ethics was born.
Long live IMPR!
God bless Nigeria!!
Mohammed Dahiru Lawal is Head of Innovation and Special Projects at Image Merchants Promotion Limited (IMPR) and a 2023 Mandela Washington Fellow.
