Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, has flagged off the Kwara State Chapter of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, NIPR, awareness walk ahead of the 2026 World Public Relations Forum in Abuja.

The awareness walk, held through Ahmadu Bello Way in Ilorin on Saturday, October 3, was organised to create public awareness and mobilise support for the forum scheduled to hold in Abuja from November 15 to 21, 2026, with the theme; “Responsible Communication: The Voice of the World.”

Representing the governor at the flag-off, his Senior Adviser and Counsellor, Saadu Salahu, stressed the need for ethical and credible communication amid the growing challenges of fake news, misinformation, disinformation and artificial intelligence-generated deepfakes.

According to him, responsible communication is essential to promoting peace, unity and social cohesion, particularly in a diverse society such as Nigeria.

Meanwhile a member of the NIPR council Prof Saudat Salah Abdulbaqi stated that the forum would mark a historic moment for Nigeria, as the first country in West Africa to host the global gathering of public relations and communication professionals.

She also described the opportunity as a great one for Nigeria to communicate its story, capacity, culture and aspirations to the world, adding that the opportunity to host the forum was achieved through a bidding process after emerging on merit, coming tops among countries that were participants in the bid.