By Jamiu Folarin
The Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) has announced a journalist and researcher with Rockcity 101.9 F.M, Dr. Jamiu Folarin, as the winner of the best reporting on social accountability in West Africa.
Programme Director of CJID, Mr. Akintunde Babatunde, announced Dr. Folarin as the winner at the dinner and awards ceremony held last Wednesday in Abuja during the dinner and award ceremony to mark the 10th anniversary of the organization and close its three-day Media and Development Conference (MDC 2024).
Akintunde announced the investigative story of Dr. Folarin titled: “Multi-Million Naira Fraud: How Funds Allocated for FG’s Flood Control Projects Disappear in Ogun State” as the best reporting on social accountability award with Kwetey Nartey of Joy News (Ghana) announced as the runner up.
He said the total of 388 entries were received from seven countries for the maiden edition of its journalism awards with 15 outstanding entries shortlisted for the final with the winners and runner ups in each category receiving plagues and cash prizes of $1,000 and $500 respectively.
While presenting the award to Dr. Folarin, the co-founder of CJID and Editor-In-Chief of Premium Times, Mr. Musikilu Mojeed, commended Dr. Folarin for excelling in academic pursuit as a lecturer at Crescent University and still practicing as a journalist.
Mojeed said the practice will further cement the relationship between academic and journalism practice which is essential in bridging the gaps between the newsroom and classroom.
A journalist with Media General, Ghana, Godwin Asediba, emerged as the winner of The Community Reporting category while Jeliliat Nasiru of TheCable Newspaper won the Best Health Reporting in West Africa.
BudgIT funded Story wins Best Reporting on Social Accountability in West Africa
The story funded by BudgIT through its GovSpend Media Fellowship won the best reporting on social accountability in West Africa. BudgIT is a civic organization that applies technology for citizen engagement.
The fellowship focuses on identifying spending from the gov spend platform, investigating it, and establishing value for money or corruption cases that may have occurred during the procurement process.
The investigative story on the multi-million naira fraud involving funds for the Federal Government’s flood control projects in Ogun State exposed the mismanagement and diversion of public funds meant for crucial flood mitigation efforts.
The investigative report revealed gaps in accountability and transparency among government officials and contractors. The report brought irregularities to light, and the need for stricter oversight, effective monitoring mechanisms, and enforcement of anti-corruption policies within public projects.
The report has increased public awareness by educating thousands of listeners about how to monitor government projects and hold officials accountable. It has fostered a culture of advocacy for transparency and accountability among the beneficiaries and Rockcity FM listeners.
The investigation also empowered citizens to use the GovSpend portal to track government spending and demand accountability.
Other Winners
The Best Solutions Journalism went to Prosper Ishaya of Social Voices while Olayide Soaga of Prime Progress was the runner up.
Three Ghanian journalists of The Fourth Estate jointly won the Best Fact-Checking in West Africa. They are Manasseh-Azure-Awuni, Adwoa Adobea Owusu and Evans Aziamor-Mensah. The runner up for this category went to Kunle Adebajo of Humangle (Nigeria).
For the Best Reporting on Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV), Yero Bah of Nigeria Health Watch (The Gambia/Nigeria) clinched the award while Juliet Buna of African Women in Media (Nigeria) emerged the runner up.
Bettina Nwelih of News Central Nigeria was announced as the Runner up for the Best Climate Change Reporting category as there was no overall winner for the category.
The chairperson of the award’s panel of judges, Ajibola Amzat said that all the entries did not meet the minimum requirements for being considered for the award .
Amzat who is the Editor of the Centre for Collaborative Investigative Journalism (CCIJ) explained that the entries submitted for the climate change reporting category, were merely environmental or agricultural stories without the context of climate change in the stories.
Mathematics Student wins Best Investigative Journalism Award
The event also witnessed presentation of awards and cash prizes to the winners of the 2024 Alfred Opubor Next Gen Awards as well as the 2024 Dubawa/Kwame Karikari Fact-checking fellows.
While introducing the awards, the Deputy Director of Journalism Programme of CJID, Busola Ajibola, said its Next Gen. projects have reached 43 tertiary institutions in Africa with over 4,000 young people benefiting from its different capacity building projects, training and empowerment.
The awards and cash prizes were presented to outstanding student journalists in Nigerian tertiary institutions under CJID’s Campus Reporter project. The winners and runner ups in each category received plagues and cash prizes of N500,000 and N200,000 respectively.
According to the Project Officer the Campus Reporter project, Iretomiwa Dele-Yusuff, the 2024 Alfred Opubor Next-Gen Campus Reporter Awards has categories which include: the Best Budgetary Tracking Story, Best Data Story, Best Inclusive Gender/PWDs Story, Best Health Reporting, Best Investigative, Best Fact-Check, Best Environment and Best Campus Investigative Reporter of the Year.
A 500-level student of Mathematics from the Federal University of Technology, Minna, Abubakar AbdurRasheed, went away with many of the awards including the Best Campus Investigative Reporter of the 2024 Alfred Opubor Next-Gen Awards.
Abubakar emerged the winners of the Best Health Reporting, Investigative and Environment categories with the story.
The winners of the 2024 Alfred Opubor Next Gen Awards in Budgetary Procurement Tracking story category are: a 500-level Law student from the University of Maiduguri, Imran Ridwan, and a 500-level student of Medicine from Osun State University, Taiwo Fatola, as the runner up.
In the Data Story category are Hayatullahi Mudathir Folorunsho and Olashinle Ogunrinu from the University of Ibadan as the winner, with Hussain Wahab from Usmanu Danfodiyo University as the runner-up.
For the Best Inclusive Gender/PWDs Story category, a 400-level student at the University of Maiduguri, Rukaiyatu Idris from the University of Maiduguri was announced as the winner while Fawaz Adebisi from Mass Communication Department of Moshood Abiola Polytechnic was announced as the runner-up.
A 500-level student from Usmanu Danfodio University, Shereefdeen Ahmad, emerged the runner-up in the Best Health category; while James Aparshe from the National Open University of Nigeria, was announced as the runner-up of the Best Investigative Story category.
The awards for the Best Fact Check category went to , Emmanuel Oluwadola of the Adekunle Ajasin University, while Fatimah Idera, from the same university, emerged as the runner-up.
For the Best Environmental Story, a Law student from Usman Danfodiyo University, Shereefdeen Ahmad emerged as the runner-up.
We Must Continue to Hold those in Power to Account – Premium Times Editor-in-Chief
Earlier in his opening remark, the Co-founder of CJID and Editor-in-Chief of Premium Times newspaper. Musikilu Mojeed, urged the media institution to continue to discharge its constitutional responsibility of making the government accountable.
Musikilu MojeedMojeed said CJID has laid the solid foundation for accountability journalism in Africa through its series of projects, activities and programme.
Goodwill messages were delivered by the Africa Director of MacArthur Foundation, Dr Kole Shettima; the Ambassador of Norwegian Embassy in Nigeria, HE Sevein Baera; Ambassador of Netherlands in Nigeria, HE Bengt van Loosdrecht; Ambassador Designate of Finnish Embassy in Nigeria, HE Ms Sanna Selin; and Spanish Ambassador to Nigeria, Juan Ignacio Sell.
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