Wemimo Adewuni
Wemimo Adewuni is a multimedia journalist with Radio One 103.5 FM before moving to Nigeria Info 99.3 FM Lagos. She organised a one-day workshop for thirty-five participants from three stations: Bond FM, Radio One and Metro FM; and a one-month mentoring programme on WhatsApp to show the participants how much they could achieve if they intentionally work at it. On the WhatsApp group named ‘Intentional Journalists’, which she created, Wemimo got other capable hands to mentor her colleagues on fact checking, story writing, investigative journalism, grant writing, social media branding and CV writing. The intervention birthed a renewed passion for journalism among participants. Some have begun to apply for fellowship from the links she shared, and some who prior to the event did not have social media accounts also opened. It was indeed an impactful session with Wemimo which she intends to continue.
Wemimo’s story on energy theft, is a nagging issue with the Nigerian power institutions and the general public. In her story “Shocked to Death in Makoko – Energy Theft, Underdevelopment and the Complicity of the Police”, Wemimo recounts the ugly scenario which led to death of a two-year old boy due to the negligible act of Power/Energy officials and their illegal cohort in Makoko, one of the ancient communities in Lagos.
A major gender issue directly connected with this project is the story of the widow with 7 children who runs a day-care where the 2-year old boy, who was electrocuted was being kept. The widow who collects 50 Naira as daily pay from mothers who patronise her, was made to pay the sum of 50,000 Naira on account of bail by the Police while the perpetrator of the evil roamed free. Consequently, a police officer has shown interest to follow the case up, following consistent sharing of the story. The widow was interviewed live on radio. A follow up on the story also got the attention of the public, which have also reached out to give her some money to take care of her family. The Police Public Relations Officer in Lagos alongside Wemimo have also vowed to find the policemen who extorted the widow.
