The sixth edition of the Lagos State PR Industry Gala and Award (LaPRIGA), lived up to its billing as leading communication professionals in consultancies, government, corporate and not-for-profit organisations, captains of industry, media personalities, academia and C-Suite executives from across different sectors and industries converge to celebrate professional excellence.

Over twenty honourees from public relations consultancies, practitioners in the public and private sectors, stakeholders, and the media were honored with colorful figurines in different categories recently.

Three individuals – Yeye Agnes Shobajo, Mr. John Ehiguese and Dr. Phil Osagie – were honored with the Lifetime Achievements Award for their outstanding contributions to the Lagos State Chapter of NIPR and the PR Profession over the years.

Here is the list of all the winners:

1. Bolaji Abimbola – PR Practitioner of the Year

2. Integrated Indigo – Agency of the Year

3. Carole Oghuma (Multichoice Nigeria) – Corporate Communication Practitioner of the Year

4. Joshua Ajayi (Brand Communication) – PR Journalist of the Year

5. Marketing Edge – PR Magazine of the Year

6. Gboyega Akosile (Chief Press Secretary, Lagos State Governor) – Outstanding Public Affairs Practitioner of the Year

7. Airtel Nigeria – Best Brand in Storytelling

8. Red Media – Best Innovation in PR

9. Black House Media – Best Use of Digital Tools for PR Campaign

10. Godfrey Adejumoh – Rising PR Practitioner

11. Abiodun Ajala (Thisday) – Photojournalist of the Year

12. Funso Aina (MTN) – Best in Crisis Management

13. Nkechi Alli-Balogun – Most Inspiring PR Practitioner

14. Stanbic IBTC – Corporate Sustainability Award

15. Airtel Nigeria – Excellence in Internal Communication

16. MTN – Excellence in Community Relations Award

17. Access Bank – Excellence in Corporate Communications (Team)

18. Nigerian Army School of Public Relations and Information (NASPRI) – Outstanding Armed Forces PR Training Institution

19. Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) – Outstanding House Journal

Lifetime Achievement Award

1. Yeye Agnes Shobajo

2. Mr. John Ehiguese

3. Dr. Phil Osagie

In her welcome remark, the Chairman of the Lagos Chapter of NIPR, Mrs. Comfort Nwankwo noted that: “Today’s event is further proof of our commitment to continue to maintain leadership in professionalism and excellence.”

She congratulated all the nominees for this year’s LaPRIGA, while stating that “they all deserved to win.”

The Lagos NIPR Chairman challenged members to set the agenda for stakeholders’ engagement and lead the discus to reawaken national consciousness.

As part of the activities for the event, there was a drama skit that amplified the Institute’s CSR initiatives, tagged: Extra Mile Projects (formerly called Auti-Connect), an advocacy agenda to give back, touching lives, especially people living with Autism Spectrum Disorders [ASD].

A percentage of the profit from the event has been set aside to promote this initiative.

Meanwhile, in order to solidify its leading status among the state chapters of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), the Lagos Chapter members’ unanimously approved the motion moved by the President of the African Public Relations Association (APRA), Mr. Yomi Badejo-Okunsanya, to forthwith refer to the Lagos Chapter of NIPR as the ‘Premier Chapter’.