Five Nigerian journalists over the weekend won major awards at the West Africa Media Excellence Awards 2019 and the Continental Journalism Award on AU Charter.
At the event held in Accra, Ghana, Destiny Onyemihia of Voice of Nigeria emerged the overall winner for the AU Charter award.
For the regional award, Cletus Umoh Ukpong of Premium Times won the Investigative Category, Tobore Oveorie, The Nation Newspaper, Human Rights, Kunle Adebayo of International Centre for Investigative Reporting, Telecommunications and Information Communications and Technology and Tunde Ajala of Punch, Business and SMEs.
Sama Tounwendsida Huges Richard of L’Observeteur Paalga, Burkina Faso was named the West Africa Journalist of the Year for his impactful reporting of mental illness in his country. He won the health category.
Seriba Kone of Lepointsur.com, Cote D’Ivoire won the Ant-Corruption category while Nabil Ahamed Rufai of GHOne TV, Ghana won the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Responding to his award, Richard said “ I am honoured to have won this award. So many people with mental disabilities are neglected and I knew that it was a story that needed to be told to humanise them”
The three-day West Africa Media Excellence Conference and Awards (WEMECA) was organised by the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) with the theme “Social Media, Fake News and Elections in Africa”
