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20 journalists from 10 countries selected for DPI journalism Fellowship

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20 journalists from 10 countries selected for DPI journalism Fellowship

After a rigorous selection process from a pool of 300 applicants, 20 journalists have been selected for the maiden Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) Journalism Fellowship by the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA). The Fellows, comprising 13 males and seven females, are from 10 countries, namely, Benin, Cape Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, The Gambia, and Togo.

The DPI Journalism Fellowship seeks to enhance public access to information on DPI issues through in-depth, compelling and impactful journalistic reporting. It is being implemented in partnership with and funding support from Co-Develop, a global not-for-profit fund to achieve the catalytic possibilities of digital public infrastructure.

The Fellowship will run from September 18 to December 18, 2023. It will feature a series of trainings, both virtual and in-person. The Fellows will participate in several training sessions on DPI and DPI reporting. In the first and second weeks of November, the Fellows will be hosted in Accra, Ghana for two weeks and will undergo in-person trainings, experience-sharing sessions, and institutional and field visits.

Fellows will receive a monthly stipend of USD500 while their respective media organisations will be supported with USD700 each month to support editorial productions of DPI stories. Fellows will receive a Certificate of Honour upon completion of the Fellowship.

Fellows were recruited through a competitive selection process including interviews with applicants and their editors.

Below is the list of the 2023 DPI Journalism Fellows:

  1. Badarou Aziz (Benin)
  2. Finafa Rébéca Kindjanhounde (Benin)
  3. Maria de Lourdes Silva Fortes (Cape Verde)
  4. Suy Kahofi Jischvi (Côte d’Ivoire)
  5. Gore Bi Djo Frédéric (Côte d’Ivoire)
  6. Maclean Kwofi Sakyi Adu (Ghana)
  7. Emmanuel Kwasi Debrah (Ghana)
  8. Aminata E.Sanyang (The Gambia)
  9. Mahamane Sabo Bachir Manzo (Niger)
  10. Aminatou Seydou Harouna (Niger)
  11. Usman Aliyu (Nigeria)
  12. Sodiq Ojuroungbe (Nigeria)
  13. Ameh Ejekwonyilo (Nigeria)
  14. Adetola Bademosi-Adanikin (Nigeria)
  15. Ibrahima Olou Ndiaye (Senegal)
  16. Fana Cissé (Senegal)
  17. Joseph Johnson (Sierra Leone)
  18. Alfred Koroma (Sierra Leone)
  19. Gado Tchamie Clément (Togo)
  20. Hélène Martelot (Togo)

Ten young journalists selected for 2023 Next Generation Investigative Journalism Fellowship

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Ten young journalists selected for 2023 Next Generation Investigative Journalism Fellowship

Ten (10) young journalists have been selected for the 2023 edition of the Next Generation Investigative Journalism Fellowship (NGIJ) organised by the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA). This year’s fellows comprise four females and six males selected from Ghana.

The NGIJ Fellowship promotes public interest and accountability journalism in West Africa through mentorship and training of young journalism graduates. The fellowship blends theory and practice to improve the knowledge and sharpen the skills of selected journalists to produce compelling journalistic pieces that advance human rights and governance transparency, accountability and participatory public discourse.

The 2023 Fellowship, which is the third edition, will focus on key issues like progressive taxation, domestic resource mobilization, tax justice and illicit financial flows. Fellows will be hosted for a comprehensive three-month mentorship with Fact-Check Ghana and The Fourth Estate, both being the MFWA’s public interest and accountability journalism projects. They will receive intensive practical training in investigative journalism, fact-checking, mobile journalism and data journalism among others. They will also be taken through how to use the RTI law to access important datasets for story development.

Other activities will include seminars, story writing, producing fact-checking reports including fieldwork; Institutional tours; Speaking engagements with high-profile industry players and some recreational activities. At the end of the Fellowship, each Fellow is expected to produce at least two significant reports. They will also receive a certificate of participation upon successful completion of the fellowship.

The MFWA launched the maiden edition of the NGIJ in 2021 which saw a cohort of 10 young journalists from Ghana participating in the Fellowship. This report, for example, captures a synopsis of some of the compelling stories produced and published by the first Cohort of Fellows holding authorities to account in the provision of basic amenities such as water, health facilities etc.

The second edition hosted 13 budding journalists from Ghana, Sierra Leone and Liberia. Reports produced by some of the fellows held governments in West Africa to account across many sectors including health, education, trade and industry. A report produced by one of the fellows during the period of training emerged best news writing report in Sierra Leone. Also, following the comprehensive fact-checking training under the fellowship programme, two of the fellows from the second cohort led Sierra Leone’s efforts to fight against fake news during the country’s general elections.

The 2023 edition received over 100 applications. Fellows were recruited through a competitive selection process including aptitude tests and interviews.

Below is the list of the 2023 Fellows:

  1. Jessie Ola-Morris – Greater Accra Region
  2. Albert Kuzor – Volta Region
  3. Ibrahim Khalilulahi Usman – Ashanti Region
  4. Leroy Hawkson – Greater Accra Region
  5. Rafiq Nungor Adams – Upper West Region
  6. Naomi Kwofie – Greater Accra Region
  7. Sandra Agyeiwaa Otoo – Greater Accra Region
  8. Benjamin Tenkorang – Greater Accra Region
  9. Emmanuel Kwadwo Gyan – Greater Accra Region
  10. Mavis Emefa Goka – Greater Accra Region

This year’s Fellowship is supported by NORAD through OXFAM-Ghana.

Protect press freedom – MFWA, 79 others urge Niger’s junta

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Protect press freedom – MFWA, 79 others urge Niger’s junta

Eighty (80) press freedom organisations and senior journalists across Africa, including the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) have signed a statement calling on the military government in Niger to protect press freedom and end the rampaging violence against journalists in the country.

The statement recounts the barrage of threats and attacks against journalists as well as the suspension of two French media channels since the July 27, 2023 coup, and urges the government to take steps to end the anti-media frenzy.

Niger has always been a difficult terrain for journalists as a result of the decade-old extremist violence in many parts of the country. The country has become a minefield for the media following the recent coup, with almost daily attacks and intimidation against journalists. The situation prompted 18 press freedom organisations across Africa and 62 senior journalists in 24 African countries to issue a statement to express their concern.

“We, journalists, directors of media outlets and press freedom advocacy organisations, established and working in Africa, have received reports of numerous attacks on press freedom since the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP) seized power in Niger on 26 July 2023,” the statement reads.

Among the incidents is an inquisitorial phone call by a soldier to journalist and blogger Samira Sabou over her publications, leading to her public announcement that she is suspending her publications as a result of the “denial of the right to practice the profession ethically.”

In another incident highlighted by the statement, journalist Soufiane Maman Hassan, publisher of the newspaper Le Témoin de l’Histoire, reported being stopped in the street by masked men. They threatened to come to his house “very soon,” to take him away, warning him to be careful about his publications.

The statement specifically asked the junta government to safeguard the safety of local and international journalists; lift the indefinite suspension of RFI and France 24; end verbal attacks and threats against journalists, including by CNSP members, and to publicly condemn such attacks when they occur; and investigate to identify and prosecute the perpetrators, whoever they may be.

The signatory organisations and journalists referred specifically to Niger’s cyber-crime law some of whose provisions “pose the risk of unwarranted repression of journalists.”

“We call on the CNSP to commit publicly to not invoke against journalists, because of their journalistic work, laws on treason, terrorism and state security,” the statement said.

The signatories emphasised that their appeal is also directed to other States in the Sahel controlled by the military.

Read the full statement here.

Digital Public Infrastructure in West Africa: Journalists oriented to demand inclusivity

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Digital Public Infrastructure in West Africa: Journalists oriented to demand inclusivity

All over the world, governments are radically transforming public service delivery from analog to digital, by adopting and streamlining Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI). But, like most forms of social transformations, the adoption and deployment of DPIs is fraught with the challenges of limited public awareness, participation, inclusion and accountability.

The media, who are often the source of information and public education, are themselves less knowledgeable about these developments and thus, provide far less or no coverage at all on the issues.

Consequently, journalists from across West Africa were on Thursday, August 17, 2023, schooled on DPIs and enlightened on how to ensure that the implementation of DPIs by governments is safe, equitable and inclusive across social strata.

The DPI webinar was hosted by the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) in partnership with Co-Develop, and featured David Eaves, Associate Professor in Digital Government at the Institute for Innovation and Public Policy, University College of London, as the main speaker. Prof. Eaves highlighted the need for journalists to monitor and ensure that in designing and streamlining DPIs, governments in West Africa are not doing so to the disadvantage of sections of society, especially the less privileged.

What is DPI

Co-Develop, a global non-profit Fund that acts as platform for countries to mobilize resources for building inclusive, safe and equitable DPI, defines it as a “society-wide, digital capabilities that are essential to participation in society and markets as a citizen, entrepreneur, and consumer in a digital era.”

In other words, DPI is all the digital organizational structures and facilities needed for the operation of a society or enterprise. Examples are electronic governance (e-governance) and electronic payment (e-payment) systems.

The cruciality of DPIs struck the world during the COVID-19 pandemic when people were constrained to rely more on digital means of communicating and transferring assistance, especially remittances, to loved ones.

According to Prof. Eaves, globally, the digitalization of public service delivery by governments has come with certain problems, including the duplication of data by agencies across government structures. These duplications have spawned digital bureaucracies that are also very costly to governments. Consequently, the move is now toward adopting and streamlining DPIs that collect and store data in ways that eliminate wasteful duplications across various agencies of government.

In the media’s watchdog role, Prof. Eaves said journalists must be on the lookout to ensure that in the process of streamlining and consolidating digital governance, governments become efficient and not so powerful that they cannot be held to account by citizens. Journalists, he said, can do this by asking questions such as; who these systems are being designed for; who is designing it; and who is to be held accountable when things go wrong.

The DPI Africa Journalism Fellowship Programme

The webinar was a precursor to a 3-month DPI Journalism Fellowship Programme in West Africa. The Fellowship is hosted by the MFWA with funding from Co-Develop. It begins from September to December 2023. Twenty journalists selected from Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, The Gambia, Niger, Benin, Togo, Cape Verde, Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal will constitute the maiden cohort.

The Fellowship will be both virtual and in-person and has key activities such as Virtual Training workshops on DPI with Assignments/presentations by Fellows; Production and publication/broadcast of stories on DPI by Fellows and a two-week residential gathering of DPI Fellows in Accra, Ghana for further trainings and institutional field visits.

According to the Executive director of the MFWA, Sulemana Braimah, the initiative is intended to grow a cadre of West African journalists who would have the relevant knowledge and skills to produce impactful reports on DPIs. Ultimately, this should help increase public awareness and access to information on DPI deployment across the region.

Robert Karanja, Senior Partner at Co-Develop, said his organisation remains committed to accelerating the adoption of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) that is inclusive, safe, and equitable.

Freedom of expression: The mass prison, graveyard that Senegal has become

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Freedom of expression: The mass prison, graveyard that Senegal has become

Since March 2021 when Senegal’s opposition leader, Ousmane Sonko, was accused of raping a masseuse, the build-up to his eventual conviction for corruption on June 1, 2023, has been punctuated with arrests and deaths. Thus far, at least nine people have died from ongoing political unrest while some 700 have been arrested or imprisoned.

But these are just the highlights; behind the statistics, a worrying trend of arrestees and casualties being either members of Sonko’s political party, PASTEF-Les Patriotes, or sympathizers of same, draws out at closer observation. In what can be described as a systematic depletion of the top brass of PASTEF-Les Patriotes through arrests and detentions, the party’s National Secretary, Secretary General, Second Ranking Member and Communication Officer, among others, have been imprisoned.

Other persons who have not been spared arrests and detentions in connection to the Sonko case are religious leaders, Civil Society actors and individuals who have gone out to criticize the Macky Sall government over its iron-fisted handling of the Sonko case.

Given that Sonko, who came third in Senegal’s election in 2019 is leading in pre-election polls for the 2024 elections, there is natural suspicion that the Macky Sall government is carrying out an agenda to take out Sonko and his party from the 2024 polls.

In Senegal, there is genuine fear that the government will likely disqualify Sonko from running in the 2024 polls.

These fears, may or may not be farfetched but ultimately, the way the government is going about knuckling Sonko, his party members and even independent voices who speak out against its highhandedness, is having a negative net effect on the civic space. Many people have been arrested and detained simply for expressing opinions on social media, while at least one person is being prosecuted for raising funds for PASTEF.

A report produced by the Media Foundation for West Africa points out the rising death toll from the political upheaval has styled Senegal into a sort of open graveyard while the arrests and detentions have metaphorized it into a prison.

Meanwhile, in all its punitive responses, the government has mostly done so by brandishing Senegal’s problematic criminal defamation laws. This fact, all the more, makes it dutiful for a clarion call to be made to Mr. Macky Sall and his government to cease the persecutions. This report does just that; it demands that all those arrested and detained for criminal defamation be released immediately.

It also calls on the government to end all liberticidal activities and restore the civic space to the free, open and tolerant one that it ought to be.

Read the full report here.

Gaps in Liberia’s positive policy environment must be filled to improve women’s online participation

Vivian Affoah
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Gaps in Liberia’s positive policy environment must be filled to improve women’s online participation

Internet penetration in Liberia improved in 2022, with 22% of the country’s population gaining access to online spaces. But as the country’s internet penetration rate improved, so did its population also expand (by 124,000), a fact that translates into more pressure on national resources, including digital infrastructure.

Also, all of these developments have not really done much to improve the participation of women, who constitute 49.7 percent of the country’s population, online. As this advocacy paper points out, it is still the case that women are more likely, than men, to be offline because of dissuading factors such as high cost of data and digital devices.

The situation is even worse for women who are a part of the 46.9% of citizens who live in rural areas.

But as is reiterated in this advocacy paper, the factors preventing women from going online are age-old in nature, and their continuance is in spite of the fact that Liberia has a generally, positive policy environment for women’s rights. For starters, Liberia is party to a number of regional and international frameworks that recognize the importance of promoting women’s digital rights. The country also has a national gender policy.

It is clear that the disconnect between the positive policy environment and the continued sabotage of women’s access to the internet by age-old problems is due to gaps in the existing policies on gender. For example, even though the country’s national Gender Policy is a document in active implementation, there are no specific policies and frameworks on women’s rights online.

Again because there are no specific policies and frameworks on women’s rights online, the policy environment is bereft of specific vehicles for targeted programmes for improving women’s digital rights.

To respond to these challenges, this paper advocates that gender principles are mainstreamed into existing policies and frameworks, such as the national gender policy and national educational policy.

In addition to this, there is a call for Liberia to bolster its existing laws with specific legislation on online, gender-based abuses. The Liberian government is also urged to expand reliable internet infrastructure into rural Liberia.

Meanwhile, stakeholders, including civil society organisations, which have already done a lot for women’s digital rights in Liberia, have been called upon to collaborate more in order to expand their positive impact. Among other things, this paper advocates that they carry out more educational campaigns to help build the digital capacities of women.

Kindly click here to read the advocacy paper.

Here’s how social media activist Rokia Doumbia’s detention defines the siege on free expression in Mali

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Here’s how social media activist Rokia Doumbia’s detention defines the siege on free expression in Mali

On August 2, 2023, the Court of Commune IV in the Malian capital, Bamako, sentenced the activist and social media influencer, Rokia Doumbia, also known as #Madame vie chère, to one year in prison in the continuing crackdown on critical voices in the troubled country.

The court also hit Doumbia with a fine of one million CFA francs (USD1,600). In a poor country with an average monthly income of USD 110, it will require more than the entire annual income of the average Malian to pay the fine.

And what is the activist’s crime? She had simply spoken out about the security situation and the cost of living in the country in a live TikTok broadcast.

“Under your governance, things are not going well. This transition is a failure with 0%. I wouldn’t even give 1%, but 0%. That’s not why you staged a coup d’état. When you stage a coup because your predecessor failed, the aim is to do better in order to surpass him,” she had said.

“No Malian lives in peace. Insecurity is gaining ground everywhere. During my live shows, people react by denouncing the soaring prices of rice, diesel, oil and sugar”, the blogger continued.

In the current context of “pensée unique” (one-track thinking), amidst the desperate campaign by the junta to win and be seen to be winning the war against the raging insurgency and against the economic fallout of its recent geopolitical decisions in respect of its relations with the West, it would have been naïve for the most ardent optimist to expect Doumbia to have gotten away with her forthright assessment.

And sure enough, the blogger was taken into detention on March 13, 2023. Two days later, she was arraigned on charges of “inciting revolt”, “disturbing public order through the use of information and communication technologies” and “insulting and abusing the Head of State.” She denied the charges and was remanded into custody.

Although Doumbia’s parents, on May 3, paid the bail required for her release, the public prosecutor, Idrissa Hamidou Touré, immediately issued a new committal order against her, leading to her return into detention.

Her lawyers have filed an appeal, insisting that the offences leveled against their client are not covered by the law on cybercrime.

Doumbia joins a long list of activists including religious leaders, media organizations and journalists who have fallen victim to the hermetic closure of Mali’s civic space.

Ras Bath and Imam Dicko’s ordeal

On July 11, 2023, the radio and television host Mohamed Youssouf Bathily, popularly known as “Ras Bath”, appeared in court for the umpteenth time since his detention in March, 2023. The journalist, who is also spokesman for the civil society group Collectif pour la défense de la République (CDR), alleged that former prime minister Soumeylou Boubèye Maïga had not simply died in custody, but had been killed. On March 13, 2023, he was placed under a committal order for “simulation of an offence.” He was subsequently acquitted of the charge. However, instead of being released, he was returned to prison on a new charge of “harming the credibility of the State.”

Another person who has found himself on the wrong side of the junta’s humour is influential cleric, Imam Mahmoud Dicko. On June 22, 2023, Imam Dicko had his diplomatic passport confiscated upon his return from a trip to Mauritania.

The highly influential and outspoken religious leader had recently denounced certain “inappropriate actions of the transitional authorities.” He also openly opposed the constitutional reform proposed by the military government.

A leaf from the book of 2022

With these attacks on press freedom, the authorities are continuing in their repressive footsteps from 2022, when they went on the rampage against critical opinions and media organizations. For example, they expelled Benjamin Roger, a French journalist for Jeune Afrique, less than 24 hours after his arrival in Bamako.  The junta also suspended the French stations, France 24 and RFI over false publication charges,  and Joliba TV together with its journalist, Mohamed Halidou Taher, following a defiant editorial.

On November 23, 2022, Mali’s Judicial Investigation Brigade (BIJ), issued a summon for journalist Malick  Konaté to appear and respond to charges of “high treason” against him. The summon followed threats from pro-government elements against the journalist for collaborating with a French channel BFM TV to produce an investigative story that was critical of the activities of the Wagner Group. Konaté was forced to flee the country.

The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) is deeply concerned about these repressive tendencies. They hinder open dialogue, impede and violate the basic, irreducible rights to freedom of expression and access to information. It is imperative that the Malian authorities allow citizens, journalists, activists, and leaders to freely express their opinions. This will enable the government to correctly gauge public opinion and respond appropriately to citizens’ concerns. It is a better option than repression which is liable to create a Molotov cocktail of pent-up resentment, frustration and disenchantment which might explode at any time.

Policy gaps in digital rights obstruct many Sierra Leonean women from being online

Vivian Affoah
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Policy gaps in digital rights obstruct many Sierra Leonean women from being online

As at 2020, only 5.7% of women in Sierra Leone accessed the internet compared to 11.4% of males. In 2023, the ratio has not changed any much.

What this means is that the internet’s power as the great enabler, is not benefitting Sierra Leonean women as much as it should, exacerbating already existing digital gender divide in the country.

This divide which disproportionately affect women is driven by factors such as disproportionate poverty and limited digital literacy among women. And all of these are backgrounded by slowly dismantling patriarchy and social values that are masculine.

The state of affairs naturally puts stakeholders, especially the government, under a direct duty to tackle the problem of women’s poor leverage of the internet and other digital tools to improve their lives. The government has made some effort in this respect – for instance, Sierra Leone is party to many international frameworks that promote gender equality and equity.

The government has also put in place some national laws and strategies that promote gender equity, such as the Cyber security Act of 2021, Data Protection strategy of 2022, National ICT Policy of 2011 and the National Telecoms Act of 2006. However, as this advocacy paper points out, these laws, policies and strategies are generic and lack specific provisions that directly address issues about women’s online rights.

As a result of this, Sierra Leone’s current policy environment is decorated with the many international conventions on women’s online rights that it has signed on to, along with broad policies on the subject, however, in practice, women’s online rights are not really promoted.

Consequently, many Sierra Leonean women continue to have the internet and other digital tools inaccessible to them due to factors such as the high cost of data and devices. Even for the women who are able to overcome the many challenges and access the internet, they continue to face online abuse.

Also, as a result of the lack of deliberate policies to empower women to assert their rights online, many Sierra Leonean women are not digitally literate.

The situation makes it very imperative that stakeholders, especially the government, take measures to improve the policy space with specific policies that make the internet more accessible and safer for women and girls.

Affirmative Action on digital rights for Sierra Leonean women is therefore needed to improve women’s rights conditions in Sierra Leone.

This advocacy paper on policy gaps and recommendations for women’s rights online in Sierra Leone highlights the gaps in policies for women rights in Sierra Leone and makes recommendations to various stakeholders on how to make country’s ICT related policies more gender-responsive.

Kindly click here to read the advocacy paper.

MFWA decries attacks against the media in Niger

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MFWA decries attacks against the media in Niger

The Media Foundation for West Africa deplores the serial press freedom violations in Niger over the past two weeks, and urges the new military government to take steps to protect the media and Niger’s civic space.

In the latest act of repression, the junta on August 3, 2023 suspended two French media channels, France 24 and RFI from broadcasting in the country, capping two weeks of frenzied aggression against the media in the country. The two channels are subsidiaries of France Medias Monde, owned by the French government.

Access to the two channels were blocked on August 3, exactly a week after the July 26 overthrow of the elected President Mohamed Bazoum, who was perceived to be pro-France.

On July 30, 2023, fanatics supporting the coup heckled and threatened Anne-Fleur Lespiaut, a reporter for the French channel TV5 Monde and Stanislas Poyet, a correspondent for Le Figaro, also a French newspaper. The two received the threat while covering a procession in support of the new military leaders.

On July 28, some unidentified individuals also attacked media personnel from Radio Anfani and harassed a crew member of Bonferey TV, both privately-owned media organisations. The attack happened during a press conference at the headquarters of the party of deposed President Mohamed Bazoum, Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism (PNDS-Tarayya). Bonferey TV had a camera damaged in the course of the fray.

The Director of Bonferey TV, Moustapha Zongoma, however, told the MFWA that the station’s journalist Souleymane Ousmane, who was harassed was not necessarily attacked because he is a journalist as he was at that point without any identification as a journalist.

“He was not easily identifiable as a journalist, so the thugs might not have targeted him because of his work,” Zongoma said.

Maison de la Press, the umbrella media professionals group in Niger, however, issued a statement in Niamey, on the same day, to express its concern about the threats to press freedom and the safety of journalists state and non-state actors in the country.

On July 26, the day of the coup, soldiers invaded at least five media houses and stayed for hours before leaving their premises. The affected media houses included Bonferey TV, Niger 24, Radio Anfani, Radio-Television Ténéré and Dounia TV.

“They said they had come to assure our security and posted two soldiers at the control room, one in front of my office,” the Director of Bonferey TV, Moustapha Zongoma, told the MFWA in a telephone conversation. He added that while the military officers were not violent, he was sure they had come to make sure that the station would not do any anti-coup broadcasting.

The MFWA joins the media fraternity in Niger and West Africa to condemn the attacks on the media in Niger. The repressive beginning of the junta regime augurs ill for press freedom and the civic space in the country. We call on the junta government to allow RFI and France 24 to resume broadcasting for the benefit of the millions of their audiences whose rights to information are being violated by the suspension. We also urge the authorities to restrain their supporters, the defense and security forces and all disgruntled persons from harassing or attacking the media.

MFWA appoints additional senior staff

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MFWA appoints additional senior staff

The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) has appointed two senior staff, Kojo Impraim (PhD) and Rosemond Ebi-Adwo Aryeetey (Mrs), to join its team of experienced workforce.

Dr. Impraim has been appointed as the Director of Research and Advocacy. He will also support the organisation’s monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning (MEAL) systems.

Prior to joining the MFWA, Dr. Impraim was Deputy Director in charge of Research, Monitoring & Evaluation at the National Peace Council of Ghana.

He had previously served as Programme Manager for the Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council; Programme Officer at the Institute of Democratic Governance (IDEG); and Chief Operating Officer at Africa Worldview Limited. He has also consulted on a number of media projects for the state broadcaster, Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, and the Ghana Journalists Association.

Dr. Impraim holds a Ph.D. in Politics and International Relations from the University of Cape Town, South Africa; M. Phil in Political Science from the University of Ghana; and Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with Sociology (First Class Honors) also from the University of Ghana.

Rosemond Ebi-Adwo Aryeetey (Mrs) joined the MFWA in August 2023 as a Senior Programme Manager for Partnerships and Outreach.

She has worked in different capacities in a number of organisations, including public and private organisations, before joining the MFWA. Previously, she worked as the Head of Corporate Affairs at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) where she had oversight responsibility for promoting the reputation and achievements of KAIPTC locally, regionally and internationally.

She has also worked variously as Communications Consultant, Public Relations Manager and Account Manager for local and international brands, including Global Media Alliance, Vodafone Ghana, Samsung, HP, Yankah and Associates, Crestcom International, among others. Rosemond has also worked as a Lecturer at the African University of College of Communications and the Pentecost University. She has also served as a Resource Person/Facilitator for several organisations in the public and private sectors.

She has a Master of Arts degree in Communication Studies from the University of Ghana, Legon and an MA Degree in Administration in Higher Education from the University of Cape Coast.

“We are delighted to have on board Dr. Impraim and Rosemond to contribute to strengthening the organisation, particularly in the areas of research, advocacy and outreach while strengthening the monitoring and evaluation systems of the organisation,” Sulemana Braimah, Executive Director of MFWA said while welcoming the two.

Nigerian authorities must ensure justice for Journalist Pelumi Onifade

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Nigerian authorities must ensure justice for Journalist Pelumi Onifade

Today, July 27, 2023, marks exactly the 1000th day since the body of Pelumi Onifade, a 20-year-old reporter with Gboah TV, was discovered in a morgue at Ikorodu Lagos.

The discovery of his body on October 30, 2020, brought a chilling end to days of search by Onifade’s family, friends and colleagues after he was hit by a bullet from security officers who were tackling a riot in Lagos on October 24, 2020

He was covering the #EndSARS protests for Gboah TV, an online television channel. Specifically, he was filming some criminal elements who had infiltrated the protest to plunder Covid-19 relief items stored in the Ministry of Agriculture warehouse at the Agege Local Government Area.

Unfortunately, he was shot and wounded by the Lagos State Task Force deployed to subdue the mob. If the injury was involuntarily inflicted, the task force erased any doubt about their real intentions when they carried away their victim in a vehicle, despite the fact that he was wearing a jacket showing that he was working as a reporter.

Carried away alongside several miscreants arrested in the course of the deadly crackdown, Onifade, also a level 200 university student, reportedly died in custody from the injuries he sustained and further beatings by his abductors. It took five days of search at police stations and prison facilities by Onifade’s family members and employers before they received information that his corpse was at a mortuary at Ikorodu, Lagos.

True to the dismal information, the family discovered Onifade’s body in a mortuary in Ikorodu Lagos on October 30, 2020. His family lawyer said his body had bullet wounds.

It is a sad irony that a journalist ended up being a tragic victim of police brutalities, the very phenomenon that had sparked the #EndSARS protests.  Two years and nine months extending over 970 days of impunity is too much for a journalist who was covering criminality but got murdered like a criminal.

As we mark the 1000th-day milestone, the Media Foundation for West Africa MFWA (MFWA) and its partners, International Press Centre and Media Rights Agenda (MRA) have officially launched a 30-day social media campaign to demand justice for Pelumi Onifade, a true martyr for press freedom. The initiative is to ensure justice for the slain journalist.

On this dismal milestone occasion, we call on Nigerian authorities to commence investigations into the murder of journalist Pelumi and ensure the perpetrator are punished.

Here’s why Nigeria’s improved press freedom ranking is insignificant

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Here’s why Nigeria’s improved press freedom ranking is insignificant

The 2023 press freedom rankings by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) saw Nigeria “improve” six places over its previous ranking in 2022; in one of the most curious dynamics of the latest index.

In what highlights the paradox of Nigeria’s positive ranking, the RSF did not spare the selfsame Nigeria a scathing review.

“Nigeria is one of West Africa’s most dangerous and difficult countries for journalists, who are often monitored, attacked and arbitrarily arrested, as was the case during the 2023 elections,” affirmed the RSF.

The assessment by the RSF goes to the heart of the superficiality of Nigeria’s improved ranking on the 2023 press freedom index – it was more the case of the algorithms aligning in favour of the country than the press freedom situation in Nigeria really improving.

But even with the fortuitous mechanics of algorithms, Nigeria still ranked 123 out of 180 on the 2023 press freedom index of the RSF. What this means is that Africa’s most populous country has so bad a press freedom environment that any journalist with a choice would be wise to consider practising their vocation in that country, only after 122 other countries become unavailable.

Algorithmic advantage

In the 2023 rankings by the RSF, nearly 40% of all African countries were categorized as having ‘bad’ press freedom environments. This is so because generally speaking, the press freedom climate on the continent has deteriorated since the last review. The ‘bad boy’ countries included Ghana, which was ranked 62nd in the world. If Ghana, ranked 62nd has a bad press freedom environment, then at a ranking of 123rd, Nigeria is a freak show.

The Programme Manager for Freedom of Expression at the MFWA, Muheeb Saeed, makes the point that “Nigeria’s marginal improvement in the RSF ranking in 2023 as compared to the previous year is flattering. It has been on the back of a steep deterioration of press freedom conditions on the continent and worldwide, and should lead to a sober reflection and concerted effort to bring about real improvement.”

He adds that the country has consistently been found to record the most press freedom violations in the MFWA’s quarterly Freedom of Expression Monitor. “Security agents have been notoriously hostile to journalists, physically attacking media professionals in a wanton manner and routinely arresting them and seizing or destroying their equipment. Nigeria’s serial press freedom violations and attacks on dissent are an abnegation of the State’s responsibility to protect journalists and uphold freedom of opinion. We, therefore, call on the government to assume its responsibilities by holding perpetrators of press freedom violations to account.”

At the ranking of 123, it is noteworthy that Nigeria was beaten by countries including junta-ruled Burkina Faso (58th) and troubled neighbour Niger (61st).

Still, this was an advantage for Nigeria because the lowering of the general press freedom standards in Africa, in which some 40% of all countries are categorised as having bad press freedom environments, meant that even low-performing countries could also shine.

And so, Nigeria’s position improved by six places from its 2022 ranking of 129 out of 180, to 123 out of 180 in 2023 because the general climate for press freedom in Africa worsened.

Low-performing country

RSF’s review of Nigeria as one of the most dangerous places to practise journalism is a truism that on the ground is validated by many factors. Nigeria is one of few countries in West Africa which still have archaic criminal libel on their statutes – section 373 of the criminal code.

On the basis of this law, journalists are still being arrested and tried in the country.

Added to this, the country’s media regulator, the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), continues to be a convenient tool by which media houses are harassed over licence fees by the government. Recently, the NBC was restrained from overreaching by a court ruling that its attempt to impose fines on several broadcast stations was ultra vires.

Then there is the notorious penchant for politicians, especially State Governors, to arrest and assault journalists for whimsical reasons – such as interviewing political opponents or providing coverage for protests against them (Governors).

Where the government and politicians are not hounding journalists in Nigeria, bandit kidnappers are abducting them for ransom money.

Rogue elections

Nigeria has traditionally not been a press freedom champion in Africa, however, for the 2023 RSF rankings, the press freedom violations that occurred during the country’s 2023 presidential election had a swaying influence.

As the MFWA’s monitoring has established, journalists found themselves at the receiving end of the brutalities from the election which has added to the garland of disappointment already around the neck of President Muhamadu Buhari.

Performance per indicators

The RSF global press freedom rankings are done on the bases of five main indicators – Political, Economic, Legislative, Social and Security, with the latter concerning the safeness of the environment for journalists.

Out of the five indicators, Nigeria improved marginally in four compared to its 2022 performance. On the Political indicator, Nigeria ranked 107th in 2023 as against 127th in 2022; on the Economic indicator, it ranked 110th in 2023 as compared to 120th in 2022 and for the Legislative indicator, it ranked 126th in 2023 as against 129th in 2022.

The only indicator on which Nigeria did not improve was the Social indicator where it was ranked 88th in 2023 as against 84th in 2022. And for the Security indicator, Nigeria ranked 147th in 2023 as against 154th in 2022.

It was the summation of the country’s performance in all of these indicators that it got ranked 123rd out of a total of 180 countries in a league of the countries with the best press freedom environments.

Recommendations

The government should start by scrapping the archaic criminal libel law. Such a primitive law should have no place in the affairs of a modern state. Specific laws should also be passed to prohibit Governors from dictating the arrest of journalists given Nigeria has a fully functioning law enforcement machinery.

The Nigerian government should also put in place mechanisms that ensure that persons who attack journalists face the law.

The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) should evolve from the hair-trigger attitude of suspending licence of media houses which fail to pay broadcasting fees. The revocation of licence, if it should ever be applied as a punitive measure, must be the last resort.

The Nigerian Union of Journalists should also forge mutual ties with the Police to ensure peaceful coexistence.

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