Date: 2021-02-05

He emerged winner in a pool of 25 financial journalists from print, broadcast, and digital platforms selected for the fellowship across Nigeria. ByIfeoluwa Adediran February 4, 2021 3 min read A PREMIUM TIMES' journalist, Oladeinde Olawoyin, has emerged the overall winner of the Atupa Media Fellowship on financial journalism award.

Mr Olawoyin emerged winner in a pool of 25 financial journalists from print, broadcast, and digital platforms selected for the fellowship across Nigeria.

The award, which followed a four-month-long training programme for the 25 business and financial journalists, had over 70 entries from all the Fellows of the programme.

The programme, supported by BudgIT, Civic Hive and the United States' Consulate in Lagos, is designed to enable financial journalists to use data and visualisation in reporting issues of transparency and accountability in governance.

Mr Oladeinde, a Sub-Assistant Editor and the deputy head of PREMIUM TIMES' business desk, had three entries in the contest.

His reports looked into how the budget proposal for President Muhammadu Buhari's presidential air fleet increased by 191 per cent in four years and how Nigeria's oil company, NNPC, has continued with its endless maintenance of refineries, without commensurate value in terms of performance.

The third report looked at how the Lagos Light Rail has failed to see the light of the day, almost two decades since the construction began.

The Atupa Fellowship features 25 financial journalists focused on writing financial stories, drawing the attention of the citizens and also driving advocacy messages to policymakers, ultimately to draw civic insights on contextual issues within Nigeria.

The overall winner gets a reward of N100, 000 cash prize while the first and second runners-up receive N75,000 and N50,000, respectively.

As part of its post-fellowship support, Civic Hive says there would be monthly calls for another period of three months to check-up on the fellows as well as provide the required support.

Profile

Mr Olawoyin focuses on issues around Energy, Business, Economy and Development at PREMIUM TIMES. He is a multiple award-winning journalist who has been nominated for and won several awards and fellowships.

He is a First-Class graduate of Mass Communication from the University of Ilorin where he graduated in 2016, finishing as the department's best student. He was also editor of the university's flagship student publication, UNILORIN WATCH, alongside other campus-based publications.

In 2017, he was nominated in the journalism category of The Future Awards Africa, held in Lagos.

In 2018, he was a recipient of the West Africa Media Excellence Awards (WAMECA), held in Ghana; as well as the Nigerian Breweries Golden Pen Awards, held in Lagos.

In December 2018, alongside other young journalists across Africa, he was named "Global Goalkeeper" by the Gates Foundation at an elaborate ceremony in South Africa, in recognition of his reporting of the global goals.

In October 2019, he was among 12 finalists from around the world shortlisted for the 2019 Thomson Foundation Young Journalist Award. He also clinched the big prize as the 2019 Capital Market Reporter of the Year at the PwC Awards for Excellence in Financial Journalism.

Last year, he was among finalists selected from across Africa at the Sanlam Award for Excellence in Financial Journalism ceremony, held in South Africa. In December 2019, he was also among three winners of the African Media Development Foundation (AMDF) Awards, held in Kaduna.

Mr Oladeinde is a 2018 recipient of the prestigious Wole Soyinka Award for Investigative Reporting (WSAIR), a 2018 fellow of the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI), as well as a 2019 fellow of the African Science Literacy Network (ASLN).

Last July, he was selected for the Climate Tracker's Investigative Journalism Fellowship alongside 11 other journalists from different parts of Africa.

This January, Oladeinde was selected as a Fellow in the on-going 'In The Name of Religion' fellowship, an initiative that seeks to equip a network of trail-blazing African journalists with advanced digital skills and data journalism tools to improve the quality, quantity, and reach of objective fact-driven reporting on religious freedom issues, in ways that promote a culture of tolerance and respect for religious diversity.

The programme, an initiative of the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ), focuses on religious freedom in Nigeria and Sudan.