Twenty female journalists were on Tuesday inducted as fellows of the Female Reporters Leadership Project (FRLP) by the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) with the support of Free Press Unlimited.
Their induction followed the successful completion of six-month fellowship which included a four-day training, three-month mentorship, two-day share-fair as well as story and leadership projects that was executed by the fellows.
The 2019 fellowship is the third series with two earlier sets inducted in 2017 and 2018.
The new Fellows are Amaka Omoye of Plus Tv Africa, Lami Sadiq, Daily Trust Newspaper, Nkechi Macaulay, Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, Kikelomo Oduyebo, Lagos Television, Azeezat Adedigba, Premium Times and Annette Jeje of Daar Communications.
Others are Shola Soyele of Channels Television, Omobola Farayola, Daar Communications, Temitope Omogbolagun, Punch Newspaper, Michelle Agoh, Lagos Talks FM, Omobolanle Adesuyi, Metropolitan Broadcasting Services, Chika Mefor, Leadership Newspaper, and Tijesu Adeoye of Television Continental.
Also on the honours list are Josephine Akonor of Ghana Business News, Justina Asishana, The Nation Newspaper, Omolabake Fasogbon, ThisDay Newspaper, Elfredah Kevin-Alerechi, Today95.1FM, Theresa Igomu, The Sun Newspaper, Modupeoluwa Shoremekun, Silverbird Television and Emiene Erameh of Nigeria Info 95.1FM.
Adedigba won the overall prize for the fellowship with Soyele and Igomu as runners up at the closing event held in Lagos.
The winners got a brand new HP laptop with cash prizes of N100,000 for the 2nd runner-up, N150.000 and N200.000 for the first runner-up and winner respectively.
During the experience sharing session, the fellows spoke of the great impact the programme has made on their career which includes sharpening of their skills, resources, mentoring and networking opportunities.
Motunrayo Alaka, Executive Director/CEO, WSCIJ, who is currently in the United States for a fellowship programme in a video message reiterated the need for the fellows to be intentional about changing the stories of women in Nigeria and the leadership status of females in the newsroom.
She noted that mainstreaming gender requires the involvement of all irrespective of their gender. In her words, “It is not a his and hers war; this is really about humanity and the dignity of human beings, whether male or female. And so, let us continue to ensure that we include others as we do this campaign especially our male counterparts”.
Toyin Adeniran, Programme Officer and coordinator of the project, challenged the fellows to continue to stir actions that would eventually catalyse into solutions for generations now and hereafter.
“ The stories they implemented mirrored the realities of today’s women and girls and the stereotypic glass ceilings that must be broken in order to make the change desired in our world possible. The fellows looked into various core issues plaguing the female gender like education – out-of-school children; health/mental health resulting from traumatic experiences, among many others.”
Congratulating the fellows, mentors and the WSCIJ, Davide Soto Naranjo, Program Coordinator, FPU who also spoke through a video recording commended the hard work and the investigations carried out on issues by the fellows that are vital not only for women but for the society as a whole.
Executive Director of Media Career Development Network, Lekan Otufodunrin, who spoke on behalf of the mentors, commended the WSCIJ and the Free Press Unlimited for the worthy initiative, which according to him, is very unique and intentional in many ways.
He charged the fellows to keep at setting the pace for other female journalists and urged them to continue to be good ambassadors of this project by raising the bars in their performance henceforth.
Other mentors are veteran broadcaster Mrs Bimbo Oloyede; Deputy Director, Enterprise Development Centre, Pan-Atlantic University, Nneka Okekearu; and Board Chair, NigeriaInfo Radio Group, Rotimi Sankore.
The new fellows will join Report Women Network (REWoN), the alumnae network of the FRLP participants to afford them the opportunity for continued interactions and implementation of projects.
The FRLP Fellowship is aimed at equipping female reporters with the skill, finesse, support and tool to reach the top echelon of authority in their media houses while driving lasting and far-reaching changes within their spaces and in the society. The 2019 Fellowship received 207 applications from nine countries.