The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) is proud to announce recent accomplishments of its immediate past Chairperson and current Chairman of the organisation’s governing board.
During the 61st Ordinary Session the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, which took place from 1-15 November 2017, in Banjul, The Gambia, the immediate past Board Chairperson of the MFWA, Honourable Commissioner Soyata Maiga was elected as Chairperson of the Commission.
Commissioner Maiga will additionally serve as the Chairperson of the Commission’s Committee on the Protection of the Rights of People Living with HIV and those at Risk, Vulnerable to, and Affected by HIV. She will also serve as the Chairperson of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations/Communities in Africa.
Commissioner Maiga, who is from Mali, served as the Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the MFWA for several years until the end of her tenure in January 2014.
On his part, the current Board Chair of the MFWA, Mr. Edetaen Ojo, has been announced by the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) as the recipient of this year’s Lifetime Award for Journalistic Excellence.
According to a press statement by WSCIJ, Mr. Ojo will be receiving the prestigious award for “his leadership of issues that enshrine freedom of expression, including his dogged trailblazing effort at ensuring the passage and implementation of the Freedom of Information Act in Nigeria.”
Mr. Ojo who is also the Executive Director of the Nigeria-based media rights advocacy group, Media Rights Agenda (MRA), took over from Honourable Commissioner Maiga in January 2014 as Chairman of the MFWA governing board.
“We are extremely proud and delighted about the accomplishments of our Board Chairs. Their recent and numerous past accomplishments are a testimony of the quality leadership the MFWA continues to benefit from in the most critical area of the organisation – strategic direction and governance,” said Sulemana Braimah, Executive Director of the MFWA.