The Nigeria Prison Service, NPS, Nigeria’s reformatory agency, has won the Golden World Award, GWA, on Crisis Management instituted by the International Public Relations Association, IPRA, for a media campaign on prison decongestion and the plight of Awaiting Trial Inmates, ATI.
The NPS’ campaign, which was executed by the Image Merchants Promotion Ltd, publishers of PRNigeria and Economic Confidential respectively, created massive public awareness that attracted a positive response from the concerned stakeholders towards addressing the challenges of the alarming statistics of ATI.
DAILY NIGERIAN reports that the NPS is the first security agency in Africa to have won the award on Crisis Management.
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The Prison service had previously won awards for Superior Achievement in Branding and Engagement, SABRE, hosted by the African Public Relations Association (APRA) in Botswana.
It also received Public Education Award and Certificate of Excellence on Public Sector.
The prison decongestion campaign was listed among the finalists after the first round of online adjudicating for the 2018 IPRA GWA nominees before the judges converged on Belgium to select the final winners.
The IPRA’s President and Chairman of the Jury, Bart de Vries, said: “This year, the quality of entries is noticeably more consistent with succinct descriptions of objectives matched by creative solutions to PR issues.
“We have seen some superb finalists in 2018. There is a noticeably balancing of entries by region with growth especially in Middle East Africa compared to previous years. This reflects the GWA’s truly global scope.”
DAILY NIGERIAN also reports that the campaign was approved by the Controller General of Prison, Ahmed Ja’afaru to decongest the prison through effective strategies of Public Relations and Advocacy Campaigns.
On assumption of office, he was alarmed by the frightening populations of Awaiting Trial Inmates, who were not convicted by the court.
With support from the Centre for Crisis Communication, CCC, and Prisoners’ Rehabilitation and Welfare Action, PRAWA, some of the campaign strategies included Facility Tours of Prisons, Media Relations, Training of Prisons Public Relations Officers and Stakeholders Engagements.
Meanwhile, the winners of the 2018 Golden World Awards will be honoured during IPRA’s prestigious award ceremony and Gala Dinner in Barcelona, Spain on Friday 19 October 2018.
