TheCable nominated for Africa Fact Check prize as reporters shine at PwC media awards

TheCable, Nigeria’s independent online newspaper, has been shortlisted for the Africa-Check award.

Oluseyi Awojulugbe, a reporter of the newspaper, is among 15 finalists for the award which is scheduled to hold in Johannesburg, South Africa, late October.

Awojulugbe was shortlisted in the Best Fact-Check category for fact-checking a claim on job creation made by Chris Ngige, minister of labour.

The minister had claimed that the Buhari-led administration had created 7 million jobs.

Africa-Check is an organisation promoting the accuracy of information. Its annual awards honour journalists in Africa-based media in the growing field of fact-checking.

Four reporters from four other Nigerian newspapers were shortlisted and two Nigerian students were shortlisted in the student category.

Franz Kruger, chair of the jury for the awards, highlighted the quality of fact-checking by students: “In general, there was some really good work. We were particularly struck by the student entries, which were very strong. In some cases, they were well ahead of entries from professional journalists.”

Awojulugbe alongside Chinedu Asadu, also a reporter at TheCable, was named finalists at the PwC media excellence awards.

The award held on Friday, October 5, at the Oriental Hotel, Lagos.

Asadu was the second runner-up in the Capital Markets Reporting category. He was nominated for his story, FACT CHECK: Do Sukuk bonds lead to Islamisation?

Awojulugbe was first runner-up in the Tax Reporting category. She was nominated for her story, EXCLUSIVE: Presidency fails to remit PAYE, VAT to FIRS.

According to the organisers, the award seeks to celebrate and reward excellence in business reporting in Nigeria.

The judges look for stories that “display well-organised research and insight, demonstrate journalistic integrity, show originality and resourcefulness in crafting their story, are very relevant to the Nigerian situation”.

Kemi Busari, a reporter with Premium Times, won the Business and Economy Reporting category for his investigation on extortion of applicants at the Nigerian Immigration Service office in Ikoyi.

BusinessDay’s Isaac Anyaogu won the SMEs Reporting category.

Nwokoji Chimaroke of Tribune newspaper won the Tax Reporting Category and Stanley Opara of The PUNCH, won the Capital Markets Reporting category.