DevReporting set to launch with Mojeed Alabi as team lead

DevReporting, an online newspaper founded by Development Reporting Services Limited, is set to begin operations, focusing on critical issues across Nigeria and Africa.

A statement issued on Monday by Omobayo Azeez, its administration and finance control manager, said the medium’s interests include fostering insightful dialogue, balanced journalism, and a deep understanding of development issues in Africa.

Azeez said as a niche platform, the newspaper intends to “disrupt the status quo with a unique style of covering development issues in Nigeria and beyond through four major projects of DevCinema, DevCheck, DevCast, and DevStats”.

Acknowledging the evolving needs of people and the society, the newspaper said journalism also needs to evolve in response to the issues of different era.

“The details of these initiatives will be made public in the coming days but Nigerians and Africans should be prepared to witness firsthand rich exclusives, analysis and investigations on happenings within the development sectors, especially education, health, and humanitarian issues and how they affect the people,” the statement reads.

“The truth is that when the fight against the colonialists was in vogue, the media did well; when the military incursions dominated the post-colonial era, journalism also played its part. But now that democracy seems to have been enthroned and the new challenges are the issues of poor leadership, corruption, and stark underdevelopment, journalism needs to refocus by significantly highlighting these issues in connection with the people’s survival. That is the vacuum DevReporting has come to fill”.

Mojeed Alabi, a former development editor at Premium Times, and co-founder of DevReporting, was announced team lead/editor-in-chief of the platform.

Alabi, a two-time winner of the Wole Soyinka Award for Investigative Reporting, is 2005 graduate of English at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) and holder of master’s certificate in diplomacy and strategic studies from the University of Lagos (UNILAG).

Christiana Alabi-Akande, a former correspondent at Daily Trust Newspaper, was also named managing editor of DevReporting.

Alabi-Akande holds a postgraduate diploma certificate in mass communication. She is a recipient of the Courage in Journalism Award, and 2016 Journalist of the Year Award by Africa Media Development Foundation (AMDF).