The Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria, ERA/FoEN, and Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, CISLAC, have announced the six journalists who emerged successful in the second round of the Tobacco Control Investigative Journalism Fellowship.
They include Dayo Aiyetan of the International Centre for Investigative Reporting, ICIR, Franklin Alli of the Vanguard Newspaper and Nkoli Omohudu of the Africa Independent Television AIT.
Others are Ndubuisi Ozilo of Metro FM Lagos, Chinyere Joy Opia of Hot FM Abuja and Chizoba Nwobu of Newswatch Magazine.
Executive director of CISLAC, Auwal Rafsanjani, congratulated the successful journalists, stressing that they have expressed their determination to go beyond the surface activities of the tobacco corporations to “digging out” what have been consistently hidden from the public.
The director, corporate accountability & administration (ERA/FoEN), Akinbode Oluwafemi said that the naming of recipients of the second round of the fellowship “is an indication of our resolve to continue engaging the media in exposing the antics of the tobacco industry.”
The second round of the fellowship was announced on December 5, 2013, calling on practising journalists working with national print, electronic or online media organisations to send in story ideas revolving around Tobacco production and use.
The themes include tobacco farming, tobacco and health, marketing of tobacco to minors, tobacco smuggling, taxation, tobacco industry corporate social responsibility, tobacco prevalence and national tobacco control legislation..
The successful journalists will receive a grant to carry out their investigative pieces.
The fellowship, which is funded by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids (CTFK), is aimed at building the capacity of the Nigerian media to report tobacco control from an informed perspective and stimulate policies and actions to reduce tobacco use and its deadly toll.
It is also targeted at building and improving the public’s awareness on tobacco control and its related issues.