Kúnlé Adébàjò

Nigerian Startup Dataphyte Focuses on Data-driven Storytelling

by Kúnlé AdébàjòJournalism, Media September 18, 2022September 18, 2022No Comments

Data journalism has been around since the 1960s, but despite tremendous improvements in computer and internet technology, many reporters in Nigeria still struggle to work at this crucial intersection of journalism and numbers. However, one media enterprise, Dataphyte, is gearing up to make a difference. Dataphyte’s managing director, Joshua Olufemi, sees the organization as a “child of …

COVID-19: Nigerians Living with Chronic Ailments Want to Access Essential Medicines

by Kúnlé AdébàjòHealth, Journalism September 18, 2022September 18, 2022No Comments

Ogechi Blessing, 23, was shocked on Wednesday, April 1, when she discovered she could no longer afford one of the medicines helping her to stay alive: hydroxychloroquine. Before the novel coronavirus pandemic, she could get a pack for N6,000 but when she called her regular dealer, he informed her that the new price was N25,000 …

COVID-19: The War Room in Nigerian Newsrooms

by Kúnlé AdébàjòHealth, Journalism, Media September 18, 2022September 18, 2022No Comments

Asides healthcare workers who are known to be on the frontline in the war against COVID-19, the media constitute a set of warriors in the struggle, albeit unsung. Globally, the media have followed every event on the COVID-19 pandemic, sometimes creating fear but generally raising hope that the pandemic does not mean the end for …

Nigeria’s Polio Survivors Not Out of the Woods Yet, but the System Hardly Cares

by Kúnlé AdébàjòHealth, Journalism September 17, 2022September 17, 2022No Comments

As a child growing up in Sango-Otta, Ogun State, Adeyemi Idowu loved to play soccer with friends. Like others in his age group, he also delighted in rolling tyres with a stick in his right hand as he scampered through the neighbourhood. But he soon had to bid farewell to that life of playful adventure …

IELTS: Nigerians are Questioning Why They have to Prove They Can Speak English ㅡ Every Two Years

by Kúnlé AdébàjòJournalism, Policy September 17, 2022September 17, 2022No Comments

Afees Agboola is no stranger to speaking the English language, and that is an understatement. He started teaching the language as far back as 2006 during his teaching practice as a student in the college of education. In 2012, he was admitted to the University of Ilorin where he studied Primary Education and minored in …

TETFund Projects at Federal Universities Suffer from Abandonment, Poor Planning

by Kúnlé AdébàjòAccountability, Journalism September 17, 2022September 17, 2022No Comments

Since its establishment eight years ago, the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has disbursed hundreds of billions of naira to government-owned schools to train teachers and address infrastructural deficits. Kunle ADEBAJO paid visits to three federal universities in Northwest Nigeria — Ahmadu Bello University, Federal University Dutsin-Ma, and Federal University Dutse to see how they use the …

No, Study Does Not Show Staring at Women’s Breasts Prolongs Lifespan

by Kúnlé AdébàjòDisinformation, Journalism September 17, 2022September 17, 2022No Comments

A 20-year-old hoax suggesting that staring at female breasts has the effect of promoting longevity in men has been circulated by the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, the government-controlled news wire service. Other media houses also fell for the age-long hoax. Crediting NAN, news platforms including Premium Times and TheCable reported the “study” on Tuesday. Vanguard Newspaper, DailyPost, and many other web platforms have likewise shared the report …

Photos from 2015 Polls, Xenophobic Attacks Shared in Connection to Kogi, Bayelsa Elections

by Kúnlé AdébàjòDisinformation, Journalism September 17, 2022September 17, 2022No Comments

Pictures from the general elections conducted four years ago and 2015 xenophobic attacks in South Africa have been recently shared in support of claims about violence in Kogi and Bayelsa gubernatorial elections, The ICIR has observed. A report by The Nigerian News, a “citizen’s online publishing and broadcasting platform”, shared on Tuesday made use of a suspicious …

Nigeria’s Massive Data Poverty and Why We Should be Concerned

by Kúnlé AdébàjòData, Journalism September 17, 2022September 17, 2022No Comments

Nigeria is the world’s 13th largest oil producer and President Muhammadu Buhari re-affirmed in his latest Independence Day address that oil constitutes the bulk of Nigeria’s revenue and foreign exchange earnings. But, as the country quickly depletes her limited oil reserves and the world at large advances in technology, experts agree it’s time it focused on something else: data. Communications Minister Isa Ali …

Pushed Beyond Borders: A Peek into the Dark World of Child Trafficking Between Benin and Nigeria

by Kúnlé AdébàjòDevelopment, Human Rights, Journalism September 17, 2022September 17, 2022No Comments

When Beninese parents are pushed to the wall due to poverty and the burden of caring for too many children, they often send their wards to neighbouring Nigeria with the help of traffickers to earn extra income. In part one of this investigative series, ‘Kunle ADEBAJO tells the story of what lies on the other …