FORMER ICIR staffer Ijeoma Opara has been named first runner-up at the 34th Diamond Awards for Media Excellence (DAME) for her reporting on illegal mining in Nasarawa State.
The report, “Chinese Illegal Miners Deprive Government of Revenue, Exploit Child Labour in Nasarawa,” was nominated in the Solid Minerals Development Reporting category.
The investigation revealed that despite the 2022 Nigerian government ban on the exportation of raw minerals, the country was losing millions to illegal miners, who often supplied Chinese-owned companies.
It also exposed widespread exploitation of child labour and the siphoning of millions of naira in potential government revenue to Chinese-owned firms.
It further highlighted cases such as 10-year-old Celestina Geremiyah, who manually hauled sand from mining pits, and other children forced into labour.
On November 9, 2025, Opara was formally notified of her nomination by the DAME secretariat, which stated that her work met DAME’s “highest standards” and recognised her as one of three finalists in the Solid Minerals Development Reporting category.
The awards ceremony took place on Tuesday, November 25, 2025, at the Lagos Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja.
During the ceremony, Folashade Ogunrinde won the category with her report ‘illegal operations of mining firm responsible for Ibadan fatal explosion,’ while Opara came second.
Yakubu Mohammed won the second runner-up with his report titled ‘The Digital Black Market: Nigeria’s illicit lithium trade uncovered.’
The ICIR reports that DAME Awards aim to recognise journalists whose work combines investigative rigour with solution-oriented reporting.
Other categories awarded at the ceremony included Judicial Reporting, Sports Reporting, Education Reporting, and Investigative Reporting.
Mustapha Usman is an investigative journalist with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: musman@icirnigeria.com. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M