Amid rising cases of media intimidation and human rights violation in the country, thirteen journalists; Amnesty International Nigeria, a global movement promoting human rights in Nigeria; and Sunmi Smart-Cole, veteran photojournalist, were honoured at the fourteenth Wole Soyinka Award for Investigative Reporting presentation event held at NECA House, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos, on Monday, 9th December 2019, the World Anti-corruption Day.
In his opening remarks, Ropo Sekoni, Board Chair, WSCIJ, congratulated the category winners and the honorary award recipients for the great work they do in making governance accountable. Sekoni remarked that the time for the award presentation event was appropriate considering the tension in the air about raging controversies between the government and the media on the importance of freedom of expression and the rule of law to consolidation of democracy.
The Next Edition editor, Isine Ibanga won the online category for his two-part serial “How Bribe Taking Security Operatives/Gangs Force Nigerians to Pay Dearly for Food”. Ibanga was a runner-up in the category in 2014. Chikezie Omeje of International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) emerged runner-up in the category for his story “Million meant for combating HIV/AIDS in Nigeria end up in private pockets”. Damilola Banjo of Sahara Reporters was commended in the category for her four-part serial “Blood-Thirsty Demons of Zamfara”.
In the photography category, Odutayo Odusanya of Punch emerged runner-up for his visual story “Child Labour”. He was runner-up in the photo category in 2015. Saheed Olugbon, also of Punch was commended for his photo “Fifteen Years after Retirement, Struggle Continues”. Also, in the category, Ayodele Adeniran of Guardian was commended for his photo entry “Pupils lament pain, long trek in search of knowledge”.
Albert Oham of the Sun Newspaper was commended for his cartoon “N13.5 Million Sitting Allowance for Senators” published in the Sun Newspaper. Albert Oham was first runner-up in the 2012 edition of the award and was commended in 2014. However, the judges’ board did not consider any entry suitable to win the category.
For her five-part entry “Alleged Police Extra-Judicial Killing of Madam Basirat Akinmushire’’, Mary Abayomi-Fatile of Radio Nigeria was the only reporter recognised in the radio category. She was commended for her report. Whereas, there was no winner in the television category, Sharon Ijasan of Television Continental (TVC), a 2018 winner of the category, emerged runner-up for her two-part report, “Child rights, labour laws violated by Chinese companies”. Samuel-Wemimo Bukola, also of TVC was commended for her investigation “Depression and Suicide”.
Samson Folarin of Punch won the print category for his nine-part investigative report “Certificate, plagiarism, scandal rocks UNIZIK”, which revealed an academic fraud, intrigues, poor governance and subterfuge involving, Peter Ekemezie, who masqueraded as a “scholar” for years. Chinwe Agbeze of the Sun Newspaper emerged runner-up for her two-part investigative serial “Corruption ruins FG’s N7bn Unity Schools’ security project”. Chinwe was commended in the category in 2017 and was runner-up in the same category in 2018. Oladimeji Ramon of Punch was commended for his story “Lagos Mobile Court Where the Innocent, Guilty are Sent to Prison”.
The winners and runners-ups got cash prizes of N100,000 and N50,000 respectively, plus a certificate of commendation. In
