AC Maiwada Shares Insights on Long-Term Reputation Recovery & Lessons learned at NIPR Workshop

. Emphasises Importance of Wise and Timely Responses in Crisis Management

ZAINAB JUNAID

The National Public Relations Officer of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Assistant Comptroller of Customs Abdullahi Aliyu Maiwada PhD, delivered a paper titled ‘Long-Term Reputation Recovery & Lessons Learned’, at the recently concluded Nigeria Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) two-day workshop in Abeokuta, Ogun State.

The event which took place from 7-8 August 2024 and themed: “Navigating the Digital Storm: Mastering Crisis Communication and Reputation Management”, provided a platform for PR practitioners to share insights and best practices for managing and recovering from crisis in today’s digital age.

As a guest speaker, AC Maiwada walked the participants through a topic of long term reputation recovery and emphasised the importance of wise and timely responses in crisis management.

He noted that institutions must respond not only quickly but wisely to crisis to avoid mishandling issues that erupt.

The Customs’ PRO highlighted the significance of public trust and reputation management, noting that Recovery is not an action but a strategy that start from within, involves staff, clarifies values and showcases positive actions.

Maiwada also stressed the significance of public trust and reputation management, adding institutions must must align internal and external communication.

He cited the Nigeria Customs Service’s 2025 integrity perception survey as an example, where the Service conducted a survey to listen to Stakeholders and developed strategic communication for the survey.

In his words, “With today’s digital age, the ability to manage crisis is what will determine whether it will destroy your reputation or not. It could be a coordinated misinformation campaign, a situation of viral videos capturing alleged misconduct of Officers, and public perception once formed in this intense moment is hard to reverse. In cases where screenshots live forever, truth competes with speech. I’m sure institutions will wants to learn to respond quickly but it is not about quickly but wisely. Sometimes, if you go with quick without being wise, you end up mishandling issues or crisis that erupts,” he said. “While reputation management matters, public trust is vital for operational effectiveness of an Organisation”.

“Aligning internal and external communication, we are talking about orientation and perception. We just conducted our 2025 integrity perception survey in NCS. This survey is not to listen to customs officers but to listen to Stakeholders also and you can see we have multi-channel approach and we also develop strategic communication for the survey; how people will participate within the customs officers as well as Stakeholders across different clearance value chains. As you can see, it was placed as a pop-up on our website.

“There was a survey in 2022 and at the end of the 2022 survey, we have benefited from increase in salary, improve revenue generation, increase in welfare packages promotion etc. as a result of the survey.

“Recovery is not an action it is strategy. Reputation repair start from within, involve staffs, clarify values and showcase positive actions.“Every crisis is like a mirror, use it to refine your institution. Digital narrative do not die. I have a video of 2019 in this Ogun State, that resurfaced last month and it was shown as if it happened on that day”.

The key takeaways from his paper includes: The importance of proactive and transparent communication, continuous evaluation, and building long-term resilience; effective communication was also highlighted as crucial in reducing transaction costs, minimizing delays, and enhancing predictability.

He further stressed the importance of a crisis communication playbook with the need for institutions to document lessons learned and prepare for unexpected crisis and also pass on lessons learned to generations.

The Customs’ Image Maker concluded with the saying that goes, “reputation stopped and now start with a single tweet can bring a problem.” With this in mind, PR practitioners are expected to be proactive and strategic in managing crisis and maintaining public trust.