ODINAKA Anudu, news editor of the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (The ICIR), has won the 2020 Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) Reporter of the Year award.
This is his fourth time of walking off with the prestigious award, which rewards incisive, investigative and insightful stories on the real sector—the productive part of the economy.
He previously won the award in 2016, 2017 and 2018.
He was announced the winner at the 2020 MAN annual media luncheon held in Ikeja, Lagos, on January 28.
Anudu won the award for writing more than 100 stories in 2020 that influenced major policies of the federal government, particularly border closure and ill-thought-out bans imposed on essential items.
According to the judges, Anudu’s stories, submitted through a competitive process, were considered most incisive, investigative and in-depth, meeting all the criteria set for the award.
“His in-depth reporting and analysis of relevant issues in the manufacturing sector stood out among his colleagues,” said MAN’s panel of judges headed by Ambrose Oruche, director of corporate communications at MAN.
Mansur Ahmed, president, MAN, said Anudu also won the award for going extra mile to do in-depth reporting and analyses of issues and policies affecting the manufacturing sector, adding that he placed key manufacturing challenges on the front burner of public discourse.
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“We congratulate Odinaka Anudu for being a serial winner of this award,” Ahmed said, adding that it was a demonstration of his doggedness.
“The ‘MAN Reporter of the Year Award’ has come to stay as this is one of the many ways we can acknowledge your contribution to the Association and, off course, reward excellence,” Ahmed further said.
Anudu wrote these stories while an assistant editor in BusinessDay, Nigeria’s flagship business and financial newspaper.
He has won some of the prestigious awards locally and internationally, including African Fact-Checking Awards, PwC Tax Reporter of the Year, Citi Journalistic Excellence Award, West African Business Reporter of the Year (Runner-Up), among many others. In 2017, he was selected by the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, for a fully-funded investigation on Chinese companies in Guateng. In May and June 2019, he reported from Washington DC and Chicago, both in the United States, and The Hague in the Netherlands.
He left BusinessDay in December 2020 as an assistant editor in charge of Investigations and Real Sector desks. He supervised eight reporters in various beats such as manufacturing, agriculture, ports, health, retail, aviation and investigations. An experienced journalist with over a decade of experience, he had been a South-East Bureau chief for Orient Daily/Magazine before joining BusinessDay.
Anudu is a journalism trainer, economist and finance expert. He was educated at the University of Salford, Greater Manchester, UK, and Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, for his master’s and bachelor of arts degrees, studying Finance and Investment Management, and Philosophy, respectively. He also studied Economics at master’s level at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka.
He was formerly the secretary-general of the National Drug Abuse Control Association and has two books to his credit, ‘Top-Class English for Schools and Colleges’ (2009) and ‘Drug Abuse and Our Future: Who Will Bell the Cat?’ (2010).
Ajibola Amzat, Managing Editor at The ICIR. He can be reached via aaamzat@icirnigeria.org
and @ajibolaamzat on Twitter.