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The Niger State correspondent of The Nation Newspapers, Miss Justina Asishana, was last Friday honoured with an award of excellence at a fact check fellowship Award in Abuja.
Asishana was among the five journalists in the six months Dubawa Fact Checking Fellowship 2019 which ran from June to November 2019.
Announcing the award during the end of Fellowship dinner held in Abuja, the Dubawa Project Officer, Ebele Oputa, said Asishana went over and beyond fact checking to promoting regional based fact checking and training for other state correspondents.
Oputa noted that though every participant was a winner, Asishana distinguished herself by carrying out trainings and other media literacy advocacy regarding fact checking.
The Editor in Chief and Chief Operating Officer of Premium Times, Mr. Musikilu Mojeed, while presenting the award to Asishana, urged her to maintain the tempo and continue in promoting fact checking among her colleagues.
Mojeed told the Fellows not to relent in their bid to fight misinformation just because the Fellowship event is over.
He added that as pioneer trained Nigerian Fact-Checkers, they have more work to do to enable other journalists and individuals join in combating misinformation.
Speaking after the award, Asishana dedicated the award to God and her media organization, The Nation Newspapers while appreciating Dubawa and PTCIJ for giving her the platform to share with her colleagues what she learnt during the period of her fellowship.
Asishana said, “The fight against misinformation involves all of us. I just felt it will not help me much if I just engage in fact checking claims. I saw the need and the desire for my colleagues to acquire this information but the opportunity was just for few. But I was privileged to be among the few. So I felt if I share what I learnt with them, they will also join in the fight against misinformation and I will keep reminding myself of what I had learnt.
“The award means a lot to me, it also means more work in carrying out more media literacy advocacy on misinformation and disinformation.”
Project Officer for Dubawa, Oputa disclosed that over 65 fact checked reports had been published in five media organisations across Nigeria during the six months fact checking fellowship by Dubawa.
The partner newsrooms, according to Oputa, include, The Nation, The Guardian, Business Day, Nigeria Tribune Newspapers and News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
She stated that the project has successfully increased the availability of reliable information to more Nigerians and made newsrooms open to the rudiments of fact checking.
Mojeed called for the involvement of more media organisations in fact checking, adding that it is the way journalism can be saved in Nigeria.
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“The problem with this country is so huge that no one organisation can solve it alone. The solution lies in collaboration. I know it used to be competition but now collaboration is key,” Mojeed said.
He commended the Fellows for using the period of the Fellowship to amplify truth and urged them not to relent in their efforts in carrying out verification and amplifying the truth.
The Editor-in-Chief further said that Dubawa and Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism (PTCIJ) is working out ways to involve more newsrooms and fashion out ways of setting up fact check news desks in media organisations.
The Communication Officer of Heinrich Boll in Nigeria, Chibueze Ebii, said the Foundation is happy with the activities and reports produced by the Fellows during the Fellowship.
He said that Heinrich Boll foundation will continue to partner with Dubawa fact check for future Fact Check projects.
The Editor of The Nation Newspapers, Mr. Adeniyi Adesina who commended Dubawa for its effort in fighting misinformation in Nigeria, pledged the support of The Nation in amplifying truth in the media space.
Adesina, who was represented by the Abuja Bureau Chief, Mr Onyedi Ojiabor, said plans were underway to set up fact check news desk in The Nation and to train its correspondents on fact checking.
It was generally agreed that in these days of fake news and misinformation, fact checking becomes imperative as a means to save the journalism profession.
The Managing Director of News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the online Editor for Tribune, the Editor of The Guardian Newspapers and the representative of the Editor of Business Day Newspapers were also in attendance.
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