Mohammed Idris To Chair National Spokespersons 2026 Awards As Communication Experts Converge In Abuja

The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, will chair the 2026 National Spokespersons Awards and Economic Confidential Annual Lecture in Abuja on Aug. 13, an event organisers describe as the most expansive edition since the platform’s inception.

Image Merchants Promotion Limited (IMPR), which runs the awards alongside its Economic Confidential and PR Nigeria platforms, disclosed this at a press briefing in the capital. The ceremony, scheduled to hold at the NICON Luxury Hotel, will draw spokespersons, editors, policymakers, security officials, diplomats, corporate executives and development partners, according to IMPR’s Managing Director, Yushau Shuaib.

The Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Musa Aliyu is expected to deliver the keynote address, built around this year’s theme, “Anti-Corruption Reforms, Economic Stability and Effective Communication.” The lecture will examine how transparency and institutional communication reinforce economic resilience, a pairing that places the awards squarely within the government’s broader anti-corruption messaging rather than functioning solely as an industry event.

Shuaib said the awards currently carry endorsements from the Nigeria Union of Journalists, the African Public Relations Association and the International Public Relations Association (IPRA). Finalists were drawn from hundreds of nominations nationwide, assessed by a panel of editors, communication scholars and PR practitioners.

It is worthy to note that institutions and personalities previously recognised at the Abuja ceremony have gone on to win international honours. Communication campaigns run by the Nigeria Customs Service and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency took continental honours at the 2026 SABRE Africa Awards, while campaigns by the Central Bank of Nigeria, NITDA and the Centre for Crisis Communication have been shortlisted for this year’s IPRA Golden World Awards. Comptroller-General of Customs Bashir Adeniyi, himself a past recipient of the National Spokespersons Awards, offers a further example: he is set to receive IPRA’s Special Recognition Award at the Golden World Awards in Athens, Greece, on Sept. 25, an honour organisers point to as validation of the Abuja platform’s standards.

Also scheduled for unveiling at the Abuja event is a national research report on artificial intelligence in crisis communication, examining AI’s use in emergency response, fact-checking, media verification and public-trust building, a subject organisers say has taken on added weight as government agencies face growing pressure to counter misinformation during crises.

Shuaib described the gathering as more than an awards ceremony, calling it a platform “for recognising excellence, exchanging ideas, strengthening professional standards and promoting strategic communication as a critical pillar of good governance and national development.”