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By BONIFACE AKARAH
The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), in collaboration with Image Merchants Promotion Limited (IMPR) and the Centre for Crisis Communication (CCC), has won two 2026 International Public Relations Association (IPRA) Golden World Awards (GWA) in Athens, Greece.
The awards were received during a high-level global gathering at the Hotel Grande Bretagne in Athens, with Hajiya Hadiza Umar representing NITDA alongside Professor Yau Sule of IMPR.
NITDA was recognised in the Artificial Intelligence in Crisis Management and Publication categories for its collaboration in establishing the Crisis Communication Hub (CCHub), a national framework driven by empirical research on artificial intelligence and crisis management supported by the agency.
NITDA described the recognition as a major international achievement, saying, “This global achievement reinforces NITDA’s commitment to advancing digital literacy, ethical AI deployment, and cutting-edge communication strategies across Nigeria.”
The Crisis Communication Hub is designed to strengthen the use of technology in managing communication emergencies and protecting public trust.
According to NITDA, the initiative focuses on “Smart AI Governance: Leveraging AI tools for crisis communication and proactive social listening.”
It also targets the growing threat of misinformation and digitally manipulated content, with NITDA highlighting its focus on “Fighting Misinformation: Detecting fake news, deepfakes, and digital threats to protect public trust.”
Another component of the initiative is coordinated crisis response, designed to bring stakeholders together to handle communication emergencies more swiftly and strategically.
NITDA said the project also provides for “Coordinated Crisis Response: Uniting stakeholders across the country to handle communication emergencies swiftly and strategically.”
The agency's collaboration with IMPR and CCC on the Crisis Communication Hub reflects an effort to apply artificial intelligence and research to crisis communication, misinformation detection and public information management.
The two Golden World Awards give international recognition to the partners' work in developing the crisis communication framework and its application of emerging technology to communication challenges.
