Three Nigerian journalists have been selected for the sixth cohort of Reuters Institute Oxford Climate Journalism Network (OCJN).
Kelechi Hart Ekeledo of Africa Independent Television (AIT), Ayoola Kassim of Channels TV and Lanre Olagunju of The Cable Newspaper are among the 100 climate journalists selected for the sixth cohort of the project which will run from July to December 2024.
The three Nigerian journalists were among the 100 journalists made up of 38 men and 62 women selected from dozens of countries as released on the project’s website
They will join Josephine Okojie, Oluwatosin Omoniyi, Justina Asishana, Temitope Bademosi, Muritala Abdulahi, Muyinat Dunmade and some other Nigerian journalists in the global community of alumni and current members of the program.
With 20 journalists in the network, Nigeria is the seventh country globally and second in Africa with the most members since it’s inception in 2022.
Josephine Okojie of BusinessDay Newspaper and Oluwatosin Omoniyi, of Premium Times Newspaper were the first Nigerian journalists to join the network during the first cohort in January 2022.
The OCJN is a project of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, Oxford and has welcomed 600 members in its first six cohorts since launching in January 2022. Over 2,800 journalists and editor have applied to be part of the network during these three years.
The network is structured around four pillars: an online course crafted for practising journalists and editors lasting for six months; annual leadership programmes for senior editors and newsroom managers; journalist fellowships for mid-career journalists; and original academic research to track how people access climate change news.
