The kitchen is beginning to heat up, and we are certain that our 12 prospective fellows are not going to dash out.
Our ladies are full of passion, dedication, and their talents are shining through.
I see you guys looking puzzled, wondering what the heck Juliana Ebere Francis is talking about
Take a chill pill, I am going to spill all! For those of you ladies out there yearning to participate in the next edition of the Female Reporters Leadership Programme (FRLP) Fellowship, keep your eyes and ears peeled for this space.
You will learn a lot, and it will aid your preparation for applying for the Fellowship.
So today, the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) had its share fair with the 2025 Female Reporters Leadership Programme (FRLP) Fellowship, Cohort six.
Our 12 prospective fellows shared their story and leadership projects, including their challenges and successes since they embarked on these projects.
During the discussions, we discovered that our ladies are not mere stereotypes of beautiful faces with curves, but ladies brimming with intelligence and aiming to expose wrongdoings in our society through their awesome storytelling skills.
They even wowed Idris Akinbajo; Idris Akinbajo is the Managing Editor at Premium Times. You probably do not know, but Idris is a hard to please guy.
The ladies, who spoke with passion about their story and leadership projects, further shared revealing insights into these projects.
Almost everyone has done and dusted their Leadership Projects, just planning to follow up on those trained and firmly implement the pass-forward theory mechanism.
As for the story project, I have already seen likely story investigations that are going to cause a storm. I wait with bated breath to read these pieces.
The Executive Director of WSCIJ, Mrs Motunrayo Alaka, who was also on the call, was pleasantly surprised by the efforts of the ladies.
However, she, just like Idris and Juliana Francis, Publisher of Securitynewsalert.com, strongly feel that some of the stories are features.
The aim of the Fellowship, aside from getting ladies to put on their gender lenses and mainstream gender in their reportage, is also to create a community of investigative reporters intentionally.
Idris, seeing gaps in some stories, took his time to share gold nuggets on how to bridge these gaps.
I see the tension building as mentors work to forge gold out of clay. It is impossible.
READ ALSO: #Report Women Programme: Deconstructing Minds For Greater Media Visibility, Impact (1)
Our Takeaway From Today’s Share Fair:
- Most investigations have maximum and minimum story angles
- If your maximum story is not panning out, try the minimum story angles
- If you have a feature, look for ways to make an investigative piece
- Do not work alone, share your ideas, challenges, not just with your mentor, but other mentors and colleagues
- You cannot achieve a great story or investigation if you are adamant about not reangling your story
- If you are confused about whether your story is an investigation or not
- Just keep asking yourself as you move, what are you exposing, what is the wrong thing going on that you want to expose
- Who is the person, institution, or regulatory body you want to hold responsible/accountable for the wrong thing you’ve uncovered/or want to uncover?
- Story investigations means legwork, going to the field, you cannot do great stories via phones, while on swinging chair in an air conditioning office.
- The report/ investigations should mainstream the voices of women
- Data must be incorporated into the investigation to buttress your evidence
- Leadership projects must show clear titles and sustainability
- You must fall in love with your projects; that love will naturally come with passion, and that passion will make you give your all.
You all still recall our 12 Amazons of Female Reporters Leadership Programme, Cohort six, right?
Once again, our amazons are Melony Ishola, Head of Programmes, Video Unit, PUNCH; Aisha Gambo, Senior Correspondent, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN); Jemilat Nasiru, Staff Writer, TheCable; Juliet Buna, reporter and editor, Crest 91.1FM; Bilkis Lawal, reporter and editor, Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (Bond FM); Rasheedat Iliyas, Manager, News and Current Affairs, Radio Nigeria Harmony FM; Temitope Obayendo, Online Editor, Pharmanews; Mary Agidi, Features and Opinion Writer, The Hope; Dana Zagi, Gender Lead, Media Trust Group; Chigozie Victor, Senior Editor, Zikoko Citizen, Big Cabal Media; Christiana Alabi-Akande, Managing Editor, Development Reporting Service; and Gloria Attah, news anchor and reporter, Clearview Television.
