The Wole Soyinka Centre For Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) honour female journalists who were part of its 2017 Female Reporters Leadership Fellowship Programme.
Olufunke Fayemi of Voice of Nigeria, VON, emerged overall winner and was awarded a cash prize of ₦200,000.
Juliana Francis, a crime reporter with New Telegraph newspapers emerged the runner-up and was awarded a cash prize of ₦150,000.
Bunmi Yekinni, a reporter with Radio 1, emerged second runner-up in the programme. She was awarded a cash prize of ₦100,000.
All of the three outstanding fellows were given a laptop computer each.
The award and appreciation programme, which saw the best three fellows receive special prizes, held at the Central Business District, CBD, GRA, Ikeja.
The Leadership Fellowship, supported by the Free Press Unlimited, was designed to empower female journalists with the skills, finesse, support and tools to take bold steps that help position them for the highest leadership roles in their various media houses.
According to the organisation, the initiative, which is a part of the WSCIJ Report Women programme, is helping to mobilise a network of female journalists that are oriented for leadership as well as create a train-the-trainer team who better appreciate the importance of mainstreaming gender in news.
The pilot exposure of the fellows of the WSCIJ Female Reporters Leadership Fellowship Programme included a three-day training, three-month mentorship, a fair-share as well as leadership and story fellowship projects for 15 fellows spanning over six months.
Speaking at the award ceremony, Mrs. Motunrayo Alaka, the programme director at the centre, explained:
“The media itself has its own challenges and one of those things is the gender issues.
In management position, it is a 9-1 ratio in many media houses; many media houses don’t have women in their management (cadre). So how does the media set agenda for gender balance when it does not live gender balance?
The programme is meant to help the media become what it wants the society to become. The media must be able to walk the path that they are preaching and we want to help the media set the agenda. There is an imbalance in leadership.
This is not a women-take-over initiative; not a move from patriarchy to matriarchy but to address the imbalance in leadership in the media… (but) to address how the media write stories – political and social – to reflect society and shape the narrative.”
In her remarks, veteran broadcaster, Bimbo Oloyede, advised the fellows of the WSCIJ Female Reporters Leadership Fellowship Programme to remain outstanding journalists and role models to young females in their respective capacities.
