Six Nigerian journalists have been named as 2020 BudgIT/Civic Hive Media Fellows.
The journalists are Taiwo Adebulu, an investigative reporter with TheCable; Frank Ikpefan, Education and Labour reporter at The Nation Newspaper; Osaruonamen Ibizugbe, Correspondent with ITV Abuja; Babatunde Okunola, Content lead, Royal FM Ilorin; Gbenga Ogundare, Freelance Investigative Journalist and Kelechuckwu Iruoma, Freelance Investigative Journalist.
The six-month fellowship will run from June to November 2020.
Civic Hive, BudgIT’s civic innovation hub, is committed to raising civic tech leaders for transforming governance, social issues and creating intersections for civic engagements through technology.
The organisation uses an array of tech tools to simplify the budget and matters of public spending for citizens, so as to encourage transparency and accountability in government.
In a statement, Iyanuoluwa Bolarinwa, Civic Hive’s Manager, said journalists with the best resumes and stories were selected from over 285 applicants by a panel of credible judges who are luminaries in the field of journalism.
“This year’s edition will be focused on stories that will advance and drive citizen engagement on transparency, accountability and social issues around Gender Inequality, Health, Agriculture, Social Investment programs and the Extractive Industry,” Bolarinwa said.
Adebulu, an award-winning journalist, described the fellowship as a unique opportunity to tell important and underreported stories that can shape policies and influence change in Nigeria.
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“For me, being named a BudgIT Media Fellow is a great feat. I see it as another unique opportunity for me to tell very important stories on social justice, anti-corruption, gender and the environment. I am looking forward to these stories becoming a subject of national discourse, policy changes and influencing the lives of people and communities positively,” Adebulu said.
“Some of my stories will be asking important questions about our democracy, transparency in public institutions and the solutions to our challenges. There will be more data and multimedia storytelling. I am really excited to be a part of this excellent programme.”
On his selection for the fellowship, Ogundare said “No doubt an immense opportunity to work collaboratively with some of the best minds in Nigeria’s journalism.
The BudgIT/Civic Hive Media Fellowship Programme started in the year 2017 and it is aimed at featuring journalists who would drive conversations and applicable thought processes to increase advocacy on budget access, project tracking, social justice, gender equality and anti-corruption, among others.
The programme has amplified the voices, ideas and data-driven stories that have proposed solutions to advocacy issues to create a more egalitarian society that works for all.
