2021 Leadership and story projects

Abimbola Adegboyega

The current reality that leadership positions of numerous media organisations, including the Broadcasting Service of Ekiti State where Abimbola worked were not occupied by female journalists, motivated her to sensitize women in the media and journalism in Ekiti on the need to aspire for leadership positions.  She believed that if more women were in leadership, issues affecting women and stories on Sex and Gender-Based Violence would be effectively and efficiently reported. Abimbola worked in collaboration with the National Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), Ekiti State chapter, to bring together sixty female journalists from around the state for a leadership capacity building workshop.

At the workshop, retired United Nations diplomat, Prince Segun Omolayo presented a paper themed ‘The good journalists: A personal professional perspective” while the keynote speaker- Chika Asogwa- an Associate Professor from the Department of Mass Communication, Federal University of Oye Ekiti (FUOYE) spoke on ‘Aspiring leadership position to end sexual and gender-based violence’. Fatima Bello (NAWOJ chairperson) and Barr. Shirley Atane (Special Assistant to the wife of the Ekiti state Governor) all discussed gender issues and legal matters. The workshop created a platform for participants to be educated on SGBV and the need for female journalists in leadership positions.

Feedback from the leadership capacity workshop includes, members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in the newsroom developing an interest in reportorial jobs, female journalists were reported to vie for editorial positions in their respective organisations while more journalists reported and investigated issues on SGBV.

For her story project, she did a on the success stories of women in the media and how their success stories have encouraged others to be vocal about their career trajectory and aspire for success.

Ademola Bademosi

To impact the next generation of women, the Nigerian Tribune reporter Ademola Bademosi educated teenage girls on Sexual, Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) and how they can leverage various social media tools to speak against abuses. She partnered with a development journalist vast in gender-related issues to hold a seminar where the participants were engaged and enlightened.

Despite the challenges of convincing parents and guardians to release their underage kids for the programme held in Abuja, the turnout was impressive. At the seminar, young girls shared their experiences after getting better insight. Some ‘troubled’ participants also asked vital questions on ways to handle harassment from teachers, peers, and adults.

Ademola intends to build a network where girls can share their experiences and get their worries addressed by experts. In the future, she will embark on an advocacy drive to selected schools where participants will be trained not only on SGBV but on other digital tools useful in speaking up against SGBV.

For her story project, she beamed light on the . It focused on how domestic violence affects children, especially the girl-child in homes where such exists, and how this has impacted their day-to-day activities.

Aneta Felix

Aneta Felix, a former Plus TV reporter, trained female reporters on best practices for the reportage of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) stories and increased female representation and gender balance in news reporting with a mentorship option for female reporters who aspired for leadership roles within the media.

Her leadership project also focused on leadership capacities and better opportunities for women in the newsroom and media. She attributed the success of the project to her participation in the Report Women! Female Reporters’ Leadership Programme (FRLP), which was supported by the Open Society Initiative of West Africa (OSIWA).

Thanks to the cooperation of Plus TV management, she could involve female reporters and management staff who led panel sessions and contributed immensely.

Recounting the immediate impact of her training, she recalled that two female reporters received promotions shortly after the training and the management promoted a female reporter she recommended as she left to join BBC Africa.

 

Though she has left Plus TV, she maintains close contact with her mentees on resolution and leadership techniques in a male-dominated workplace. She has also created an online group for all female reporters that attended the training to cross-pollinate storytelling ideas and sustain the momentum of a media industry where more female reporters have a platform for expression.

For her story project, she wrote about the

 Anita Eboigbe

Anita Eboigbe’s position as an editor at HumAngle allowed her to review hundreds of story pitches. Over time she observed that only a few were ever from women, and she sensed timidity and the lack of basic skills in the quality of ideas. For a person who went through the path herself as a cub reporter, she understood the struggle of climbing up the ladder without access to female mentors. Women have to fight through episodes of paranoia, imposter syndrome and pushing harder to get opportunities and the deserved recognition. She wanted a world where female student journalists have direct access to the skills and opportunities from an early stage in their careers, which would enable them to better report issues that affect women and girls while also preparing them for leadership positions.

To address these deficiencies and the reportage of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) stories, she created a training and mentorship platform. Her focus was skill development, gender parity balance at entry level, mentorship network for building female student journalists in preparation for the newsroom and media.

Anita also started personal sessions with reporters on the reportage of SGBV issues and cases which noted improvements recorded in coverage, shining lights on previously overlooked subject matters. Some participants also had their SGBV stories published, and two journalists were also nominated for prestigious awards courtesy of industry partners and the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ).

For her story project, she investigated and reported the plight of displaced women attacked on their farms during the farmer-herder crisis in Benue State. Titled ‘Butchered And Alone: Female IDPs In Benue State Lick Their Wounds’, she brought to the fore the plights of women who were considered easy targets during the crisis. It addressed the challenges of untold stories of victims and survivors whose stories were merely documented with splashy headlines and no depth.

Ann Godwin

Ann Godwin executed two leadership projects. The first, ‘Step-Up Media Network’, focused on training and empowering female reporters to become game-changers in the dynamic world of journalism and the reportage of Sexual and Gender-Base Violence (SGBV) issues. Her training started with 17 journalists and later increased to 40 female journalists in Rivers State and extended to other states in Nigeria. To ensure the sustainability of the leadership project, she built a community of vibrant female journalists, eager and determined to change the narrative.

Her second leadership project, ‘How to start, grow and take the lead in the journalism profession’ focused on mentoring female Mass Communication Students of Rivers State University. The project was inspired by Mrs Motunrayo Alaka- the Executive Director/CEO of Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) and Mrs Juliana Francis, a Fellow of the Report Women Programme, both of whom, in times past, championed the cause of female empowerment. The project recorded an impact on 148 students and was supported by Dr Richard Amadi (HOD of Mass Communication Department, RSU), International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ) and gender activists.

After she participated in the ReportWomen! Female Reporters’ Leadership Programme (FRLP), Ann got promoted to head the Port Harcourt Office of the Guardian Newspaper. Thanks to her network, two of her members have secured jobs in reputable media houses.

Following the impact of ‘The Step-Up Media Network’, some foundations in media training such as Daily Trust Foundation in collaboration with MacArthur Foundation contacted her to nominate some members within her network. Her story project revealed that Rivers state was a flash-point for SGBV, as encouraged by the government’s lackadaisical attitude in addressing the menace.

Bassey Ikpang

According to a recent World Health Organisation (WHO) report, about 30 per cent of women and girls aged 15-49 have experienced one form of sexual abuse. Hence, Bassey Ikpang of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) was inspired during the Female Reporters Leadership Programme (FRLP) training on Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) to enlighten and equip gender reporters and gender activists with accurate methods for SGBV reportage. The training had  54 participants (24 male and 30 female) in attendance.

Highlights from the training include the five-person panel led by Chris Isiguzo- President of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) discussed issues of sexual and gender-based violence which had taken a new dimension in Nigeria and he also spoke on the alarming increase of rape cases, murder and molestation of women and children and the need to get justice for SGBV survivors and families were on the front burner.

To actualise this, she collaborated with the Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), resource persons such as Mrs Theresa Anthony, (Psychologist/Counsellor), who spoke on Psychosocial support and Trauma, Barrister Rhoda Tyoden (International Federation of Women Lawyers President) took participants on windows of justice available for survivors. Mrs Ene Ede- Violence Against persons (prohibition) Act (VAPP), Federal Capital Territory coordinator made a case for collaboration in the fight against Gender-Based Violence and Ladi Bala (President, National Association of Women Journalists) spoke on the need to report women more.

The training also had cub reporters, students from tertiary institutions and National Youth Service Corps members in attendance. Courtesy of her leadership project, NTA became a rallying point for Gender-Based campaigns exemplified by GBV messages at the end of every programme aired, female journalists reported a decrease in harassment and a teenage sexual and gender-based club was launched at Merosa Academy, FCT. This gave survivors a platform to speak up and become advocates.

Bassey also produced a six-minute report on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) to highlight myths and facts about these violations of girls and women’s fundamental human rights. The documentary was gender-inclusive for a nuanced report.

Blessing Tunoh

Blessing Tunoh, a news anchor with Channels Television, created a mentorship community with the support of her female colleagues. The community groomed student journalists to prepare for a career in the media and how to specialise as Sex Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) sensitive journalists. Driven by a passion to mentor young journalists, build an SGBV media network in Maiduguri and advocate best practices in news reportage, she chose journalists as her target audience.

She organised training for Borno Government House’s all-male newsroom with the Commissioner of Women Affairs present where she committed herself as a gender advocate. She collaborated with cohorts of the ReportWomen! Female Reporters’ Leadership Programme (FRLP), Dooshima Abu and Amaka Okoye to organise a training for reporters of The Viewer TV, Abuja. Using her personal story, she motivated her colleagues at crossroads and gave their journey a direction through direct mentorship. Through her training, her colleagues became gender-sensitive, and women-centred stories were told with a better understanding, especially regarding SGBV cases.

Blessing is not relenting in her effort to build a network of gender-sensitive journalists, empower and build the capacity of more journalists to become SGBV specialists, and pass the torch to the next generation of reporters.

For her story project, ‘Women Trade: Sex For Food In Borno IDP Camps’ ‘on Channels TV revealed how women subjected to inhumane situations at various IDP camps in Borno. Some were taken advantage of because of their vulnerability and forced into survival sex for food items to stay alive.

Bolanle Olabimtan

Despite being a graduate of media and communications, Bolanle Olabimtan had not heard of campus journalism before she graduated in 2016, which affected her delivery when she began her career in 2017. She learned about the job with little or no mentorship and under immense pressure to deliver. Since then, TheCable reporter vowed to help the new generation settle in on the profession which the ReportWomen! Female Reporters’ Leadership Programme perfectly presented.

For her leadership project, she put together a workshop focused on training students interested in practising journalism while on campus (Campus Journalism). Although initially designed for students in private universities, the workshop expanded to students of federal tertiary institutions. Designed to mentor students interested in journalism from school to preserve and strengthen the profession, teach resource identification, and develop exceptional story ideas. This ultimately highlighted media opportunities available for campus journalists and maximised the benefits of social media and other media platforms for discovering many untold stories, data reporting and fact-checking. The training was held at Veritas University, Abuja and Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti.

Highlights of the training include Kabir Adejumo, an assistant investigations editor at HumAngle and Director of Campus Press Hub, who educated participants on the basics of campus journalism. Taiwo Adebulu, head of the fact-check desk at The Cable, delivered a presentation on how to fact-check and write impact-driven stories. Femi Owolabi taught participants how to pitch to news platforms for grants to do impact stories while Lekan Otufodunrin, Executive Director, Media Career Development Network highlighted career paths in the media profession.

The success of the leadership project brought about invitations from student unions in three universities to help train their campus journalists. An online community was launched to maintain mentorship with Veritas university and ABUAD as she continued to push for more university students to become campus journalists.

For her story project, she investigated the mistreatment of pregnant inmates, with Kemisola Ogunniyi, a civilian who was arrested for allegedly taking part in the #EndSARS protest in 2020 and later giving birth to a boy in June 2021 being the case study.

She wrote ‘Maltreated And Neglected: The Plight Of Pregnant Women In Nigerian Prisons’ . This piece focused on how the rights of female inmates were violated and subjected to verbal abuses leading to mental and psychological torture.

Bukola Samuel-Wemimo

Bukola Samuel-Wemimo executed two leadership projects under the ReportWomen! Female Reporters’ Leadership Programme (FRLP). The first was a drama-based campaign on Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV). As an arm of literature that uses characters amid a plot to mirror society, it became an effective tool to prick the conscience and bring about change because images from the drama are long-lasting, targeting everyone regardless of social strata.

The project educated the public on the common scenarios of SGBV typical of real-life events, armed the vulnerable with relevant information for self-protection, and spelt out the criminal liability of SGBV.

Her second leadership project was a speaking engagement with post-graduate students at the Mass Communication department of the University of Lagos on ‘Challenges of urban reporting’ gleaned from the WSCIJ Report Women fellowship. She engaged fellow journalists on the SGBV theme, debunked misconceptions about SGBV, and sensitized journalists on the need to give more prominence to SGBV-related stories in their respective media organizations.

Bukola also facilitated online training for her former colleagues at Television Continental (TVC) where she worked during the leadership programme. At TVC, she highlighted SGBV-related issues through her stories to expose the weak justice system and the need to strengthen security agencies to prosecute individuals found wanting.

 

For her story project, she went down a different path to discuss under-reported stories of violence against men. She focused on men suffering assault at the hands of their wives or partners and told the stories of repressed men in her attempt to change the erroneous notion that women’s rights advocates are against men. Wemimo now works with Channels Television.

Chioma Ezenwafor

Inspired by the need for development, Chioma Ezenwafor’s leadership project focused on training journalists to leverage digital technology for the reportage of gender-based violence stories. It focused on training broadcasters and reporters at Nigeria Info FM, Port Harcourt on Digital Journalism and learning multimedia reporting. Her mission was to keep women in the news and amplify conversations on Gender-Based Violence.

Thanks to the station’s News and Human Resource Management, members of staff took part in the training, after which, the programmes and news department built a better synergy for improved productivity. Staff reporters who were trained applied their digital skills to better position Nigeria Info, Wazobia and Coolfm for their online audience.

For her story project, she documented rising cases of sexual violence in River’s state, cases reported to various organizations within the period and documented reasons for the rise in these cases.

The project, ‘How Rivers State is Responding to Sexual Violence’ harmonised the data and became the first of its kind in the state.

The project, ‘How Rivers State is Responding to Sexual Violence’ harmonised the data and became the first of its kind in the state.

Dooshima Abu

According to Dooshima Abu, most interventions or advocacy against gender-based violence are not preventive, to address this issue, she recognised the need to educate and empower young students with the basic knowledge of human rights and avenues to achieve justice as it would equip them with strategic decision-making techniques and conflict resolution mechanism when faced with abuse.

The training she created ‘Speak up against Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in Secondary Schools’ Across North-Central Nigeria’ focused on 100 girls from Gifted and Talented school, Makurdi, Benue state.

After the awareness drive alongside Osaruonamen Ibizugbe- another cohort, the students learnt ways to protect themselves. In dire situations of rape and assault, the students had a network of mentors and professionals they could engage, seek help and raise an alarm when necessary to encourage other students to speak up about their challenges.

Her story project told the story of 13- year-old Ochanya Ogbanje raped to death in 2018 in Benue State. Her parents in Nigeria shared their traumatic experience and how the wheel of justice rolled slowly. She works with British Broadcasting Service (BBC Pidgin).

Imaobong Dem

Imaobong Dem’s Skill Up Leadership Project built the capacity of practising and budding journalists to stay relevant in the journalism profession and be confident to access journalism opportunities for societal development. It became necessary because of the dearth of practical skills acquisition in Nigeria’s higher institutions.

With the help of experienced journalists such as Anietie Usen (author of bestselling journalism books), Lekan Otufodurin (Media career specialist), Justina Asishana, Uduak Ekong (Chairperson, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria Association of Women Journalist) and Titilope Fadare (Cohort, 2021 Female Reporters Leadership Programme) took turn to enlighten upcoming journalists and students of Mass Communication Departments of the Akwa Ibom State University.

In the future, the Inspiration FM staff hopes the leadership project will become a movement where young minds and journalists are recruited to push the agenda of standardised journalism practices in the Akwa Ibom State through skill acquisition institution tours, training and workshops.

Her story project focused on the implementation of Laws in Nigeria and what steps Akwa Ibom state government had gone with implementing the Violence Against persons (prohibition) Act (VAPP) law domesticated in 2020. The story assessed what structures were put in place by the State Government to implement the law 18 months after its domestication.

Jennifer Ugwa

Jennifer Ugwa took her teaching and mentorship skills to student journalists at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. She taught them how to write and break into local and international newsrooms as freelance journalists courtesy of their compelling stories and how to cultivate and maintain relationships with editors.

She felt students of journalism needed to have a realistic grasp of what happens outside of the lecture rooms and how to break into newsrooms and abolish the stereotype against female journalists limited only to news anchor positions on television.

Jennifer also taught them how to access, and report Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) issues, the basics of freelance, interpersonal relationships and communication, and report climate change and safety concerns of journalists from a gender perspective.

Her report- ‘Sex traffickers target teenage girls in Nigeria’s IDP Camp’ was on how girls were targeted by traffickers for sexual exploitation through the help of IDP officials.

Khadija Ishaq Bawas

Khadija Ishaq Bawas achieved her leadership position the hard way. She wanted to make a difference and help the next generation of women achieve their true potential without the unnecessary hurdles women encounter at work. The training gave her mentees across the Kano metropolis important tools to fight against gender discrimination and violence.

Her capacity building and mentorship were not limited to female journalists in Kano State. She extended the gesture to the Gender Desk of the Nigerian Police, Kano State command, and empowered the youth of Utai District in Kano.

She was not alone on this journey as the Community Health Research Initiative (CHR) provided meal support for the training and allowances for the facilitators, Arafat Air Services took care of all branding assets, Adam Abubakar Gwarzo (AAG) Foundation provided mobile devices, Kabiru Sufi of College of Arts and Science facilitated free training and provided sanitary supplies for women, alongside Zainab Baba- Public Relations Officer of Jigawa State Ministry and other collaborators.

Despite the difficulty of getting locations for her training due to restrictions placed on publicly discussing gender issues in Kano State by Hisbah Command (A Religious Agency in Kano), she was able to sensitise female journalists in the newsroom to aim for leadership positions in newsrooms and officers on the gender desks of the police force in Kano became enlightened on SGBV issues.

 

For her story project, the Liberty Television reporter spotlighted the deplorable state of beggars on the streets of Kano who were victims and survivors of gender exploitation and violence. Her story illuminated various issues and circumstances that led these victims into their current living conditions as she campaigned online to garner support for these victims.

 Kimberly Nwachukwu

Thanks to the ReportWomen! Report Women Female Reporters Leadership Programme (FRLP), Kimberly Nwachukwu actualised her mentorship and knowledge sharing dreams. Her leadership project focused on educating 60 students from Excellent Kiddies Montessori Academy, Bwari in Abuja on Sexual and Gender-based violence issues and effective communication.

With schools part of the larger society, equipping female students with quality gender-sensitive education can play a role in combating the challenges of violence and other harmful expressions against women and girls.

Thanks to her mentor, Prof. Abigail Ogwezzy- Ndisika from the University of Lagos and Emiene Erameh, a 2019 FRLP Fellow, the ideation, scope and learning topics were expanded effectively to benefit the participants. On the project, she also worked with other experts to share ideas with the students on how best to report cases of sexual and gender-based violence. She also encouraged the school management to establish a desk for SGBV issues to handle cases confidentially.

Female students shared their stories and experiences while the male students had a better understanding and committed to standing with women and girls. Buoyed by these, she has planned to replicate this every quarter in more schools within the Federal Capital Territory and engage more partners.

Her story project is the story of a 12-year-old girl who got raped by her neighbour and became pregnant. It highlighted how the rape incident impacted her and her entire family and interrogated the slow rate of rape cases prosecutions. Kimberly works with Nigeria Info.

Kofoworola Belo-Osagie

Kofoworola Belo-Osagie organised training for interns at The Nation newspaper to expose them to career opportunities in journalism and how to safeguard themselves against Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV). Her project between August and September 2021 also trained junior, mid-level and senior-level members of staff on ‘Personal Finance and Sexual and Gender-Based Violence reporting’.

The training also linked beneficiaries to resource persons for future collaborations, reinvigorate interns and their attitudes to work, and participating journalists became more sensitive to SGBV issues.

Personally, because of the Report Women! Report Women Female Reporters Leadership Programme (FRLP), Kofoworola became a voice in the Nation newspaper to campaign against attempts to ridicule.

For her story project, she focused on the untold stories of teachers and lecturers who were victims of harassment from their students. The story project titled ‘Our Tales Of Sexual And Gender-Based Violence, By Teachers’, we learned about these cases and how they have dealt with their trauma alone. After the training, she moved to The Conversation Africa.

Magdalene Michael

Determined to pass on the knowledge gained at the Report Women! Report Women Female Reporters Leadership Programme (FRLP), Magdalene Michael chose the staff of Grace 95.5FM and Confluence Television, Lokoja, Kogi State as her target audience.

Her inspiration stemmed from the false labelling of women within the region and beyond. She believed her co-workers could become active voices and the media organisation a veritable platform for Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) advocacy.

Her efforts got relevant stakeholders to collaborate under the Grace FM umbrella and took the awareness drive to the grassroots and created response centres across the 21 Local Government Areas within the state. The International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) Kogi state chapter supported it immensely. As a follow-up, she began advocacy in public primary schools to create awareness and help these kids build healthy self-esteem.

The station also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Kogi State Office of the Public Defender and Citizens’ Rights Commission for a half-hour program on citizens’ rights and responsibilities. Still counting the gains of her leadership project, a survivor interviewed in her documentary got psychological evaluation and therapy.

For her story project titled ‘SGBV and the Conspiracy of Silence in Northern Nigeria’, she investigated and reported on the conspiracy of silence on SGBV cases. The story of Agatha, a survivor of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) was the centre piece and the roles of parents, traditional and religious leaders if SGBV scourge must end. She has since moved to Development Alternatives Incorporated.

Osaruonamen Ibizugbe

Osaruonamen Ibizugbe then with Independent Television (ITV) enlightened upcoming and budding journalists on needed skills to operate as media professionals in an ever-changing and non-conforming society. Grouped into three categories; women in leadership roles, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) and mobile journalism, she pointed out the roles of women in decision making in the society, the leadership bias and how media professionals and individuals can overcome it. The second theme drew attention to the SGBV menace, causes and necessary skills to report such stories. The third theme on mobile journalism equipped participants with needed skills in sharing news and gaining more information on various topics.

She was also able to equip interns with the new multimedia skills needed to grow in the journalism profession, provide reporters with the skills to report on delicate topics, and train participants on impact storytelling and the importance of smartphone journalism today.

Osaruonamen was able to network with some fellow cohorts experienced in various fields of multimedia journalism to handle topics ranging from organizational culture and ethics to SGBV and how best to report these stories.

A direct impact of her training motivated a National youth Corp member to do a special report on women’s development in the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria and a 30-minute youth show.

For her story project she wrote about Deborah Joseph, who was raped, impregnated, and abandoned by her ex-boyfriend. The abuser refused to accept responsibility and cater to his child and left the survivor to shoulder the responsibility.

The story questioned the impact of legislation seeking to protect women and girls. Osaruonamen currently work with Centre for Journalism, Innovation and Development (CJID).

Temitope Oluleye

Temitope Oluleye is a reporter with Royal FM 95.1 and Royal TV Ilorin. She educated and equipped journalists across Ilorin with gender-sensitive reportage skills, created an annual media Conference to train journalists on development skills to thrive in journalism and make a formidable impact. The Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), the Union of Campus Journalists and the University of Ilorin supported the training.

Temitope picked the leadership project to fill the gap in the reportage of the female gender because of marginalisation in the media. She knew women needed to tell their stories. In her radio documentary, she dwelt on the sexual harassment of female journalists in the newsrooms. The project checked the existence and effectiveness of sexual harassment policies to curb the menace.

Her story project  was titled ‘Is Sexual Harassment Fast Becoming A Norm In Newsrooms or Media Houses?’

Titilope Fadare

Titilope Fadare’s leadership project focused on training three newsrooms in Abuja on mobile journalism. She spread the training across the broadcast, online and print organisations with 12 interns from Independent Television, 14 participants from Premium Times and 18 reporters from The Nation Newspaper.

The Premium Times reporter noticed the dynamic and emerging trends in mobile journalism, hence the training to help journalists adopt a cost-effective mode to produce creative multimedia content tailored for the audience in real-time.

She trained journalists on how to shoot professional videos using their phones, introduced them to mobile editing apps and gears for mobile journalism and coached them on basic editing alongside tips and how to disseminate videos on Social Media.

Courtesy of her leadership project, the Nation newspaper produced more multimedia content. Aside from that, a new policy introduced mandated the Nation newspaper reporters to record videos while on reportorial assignments to populate their social media platforms and website. For individuals, Moses Emorinken (staff of the Nation newspaper) in charge of the Abuja online department mastered the production of quality videos with his mobile phone while Faith Yahaya from the same media organisation did a voice-over for her video for the first time.

In the future, she plans to conduct training on mobile journalism for campus journalists across the country, partner with PREMIUM Times Centre for Investigative Journalism (PTCIJ) on its campus reporters’ project to include mobile journalism training and adequately equip and enhance the future of Nigerian newsrooms with reporters who have relevant and vast skills in mobile journalism.

Her story project described as a solutions report was about the residents in Sokoto and Lagos states who serve as first-hand responders to tackle the alarming rate of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) in their communities.

Zainab Sanni

Zainab Sanni organised training for campus reporters on Sexual and Gender-based Violence (SGBV) issues, to improve the dynamics of SGBV reportage in Nigeria. The increase in campus journalists underscored their importance in reporting to fight the menace.

In the training’s course, she discovered that many of the students heard about SGBV reporting for the first time. Gladly, most of the female students who participated in capacity-building training resolved to be more active in the war against SGBV.

Courtesy of the Report Women! Report Women Female Reporters Leadership Programme (FRLP), Zainab became more deliberate in her mentorship drive for female interns and corps members at Agidigbo FM where she works. Thanks to the in-house training for staff in the newsroom, Agidigbo now spotlights SGBV with sign-off quotes after every news bulletin. They also participated actively in the United Nations 16 days activism campaign to preach zero tolerance to sexual and gender-based violence in 2021.

For her story project, she investigated and reported on the Violence against Persons Prohibition Act (VAPP) titled  ‘How State Governors, Legislature Frustrate Domestication of VAPP Act’ . In the course of her investigation she discovered that Oyo State had not domesticated the bill despite a public perception that it was already in use.