TheCable’s Jemilat Nasiru, Mansur Ibrahim win Wole Soyinka investigative reporting award

TheCable’s Jemilat Nasiru, a staff writer, and Mansur Ibrahim, the head of multimedia, have won the 2024 Wole Soyinka award (online category) for investigative reporting (WSAIR).

The award was conferred on the duo on Monday at the 19th WSAIR ceremony held at AGIP Recital Hall, MUSON Centre, Lagos.

The prestigious award, which is held annually, also recognised journalists across the country for their various investigative reports.

Daniel Ojukwu of the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ) and Umar Audu of Daily Nigerian placed second and third, respectively.

Nasiru and Ibrahim co-authored a two-part report, ‘LIVING ON BORROWED TIME: How Nigeria’s unchecked e-waste is poisoning residents, environment,’ which won the award from a shortlist of 13 entries.

The winning story explored how poor waste management practices, and the failure of regulatory agencies allowed the continued importation and crude recycling of electronic waste, putting the health of thousands of Nigerians at risk.

Receiving the award, Nasiru and Ibrahim expressed sincere appreciation to the foundation for the recognition.

“This is really overwhelming. We want to thank, first of all, God for this opportunity, and we also thank the International Women’s Media Foundation for supporting and funding this very important story,” Nasiru said.

“Just like Mrs. Motunrayo said earlier, I think the highlight of this award for us is that we hope that the stories that we have reported in these projects gain the necessary attention that they deserve.

“Unlike hardcore or very deep investigations about corruption and things like that, this is a story that affects each and every one of us, including everybody in this room.

“So, you might start by wondering that the phones you’re holding, your iPads, your electric bulbs, your cable wires, when they get old, what happens?

“That is the question that I’ll be leaving each and every one of us with this evening.

“I think you can start from there and then go ahead to read the story and see that one way or the other, we are endangering our lives.

“Thank you very much; we are very grateful to the Wole Soyinka Center for Investigative Journalism for this recognition. It means that the work that we do is important, and we appreciate this recognition.”

Organisers of the WSAIR said the shortlisted reports were selected out of 219 entries received.

The report had earlier won the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) 2024 excellence in journalism award.

Other winners of the WSAIR include Olufunke Fayemi of Voice of Nigeria, who was the runner-up in the radio category—although there was no winner because the judges did not find any work that satisfied the requirements.

Aaron Atsahyel of Trust TV won the TV category; Olukayode Jaiyeola of PUNCH won the photo category; Lami Sadiq of Daily Trust won the print category; and Chukwuemeka Emenike of New Telegraph won the cartoon category, among other winners.