We are incredibly proud of the three Nigerian female journalists who were among the winners at the 2016 CNN/MultiChoice African Journalist of the year awards.
The award is for journalists across the African Continent and its objective is to reinforce the importance of the role of journalists in Africa’s development and reward journalistic talent across all media disciplines.
Yemisi Akinbobola, a Nigerian journalist, entrepreneur and academic and Ogechi Ekeanyawu, an experienced field journalist who has worked as a Sub-Editor/Senior Reporter for media companies such as Premium Times, won the sports category with the story, “Follow the Money: Who extracts the value of Nigerian footballers?”
These journalists examined how young football aspirants are taken out of Nigeria and abandoned after their families had been swindled of thousands of dollars.
Chika Oduah, a freelance reporter won the Dow Technological and Innovation Reporting award for her story, “The App That Saved 1,000 Children.”
Her story talked about a 24-year-old Nigerian computer enthusiast, Hamzat Lawal, who used a web-based app to hold the government accountable to its promise to use funds to clean up a lead contamination killing hundreds of children in the rural community of Bagega in northern Nigeria in 2009 to 2010.
These women have made us proud and we can’t wait to see what next they come up with.
