WesternPost Reporter wins 2023 best features writer award
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By Mosunmola Ayobami, Ilorin
Kwara state correspondent for WesternPost Newspaper, Mosunmola Ayobami has emerged the best Features writer for the year 2023 at the just concluded Correspondents chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Kwara Council.
The award presentation which was the highlight of the event had other awardees as Mallam Umar Abdulwahab of Blueprint newspaper emerged best business reporter, Mallam Mumini AbdulKareem of Daily Trust newspaper clinched best community reporter and The Nation correspondent, Kunle Jimoh emerged best education reporter
Other awardees are Punch correspondent, Tunde Oyekola who clinched best judiciary reporter and Nicholas Uwerunonye of Daily Independent went home with best Sports reporter as Ibrahim Alege of TVC emerged best TV reporter and Trust TV Balogun Azeez emerged best Camera man.
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While the duo of News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) kwara correspondents, Hajia Binta Fatima Lawal and Bushra Yusuf Badmus emerged best health reporters and New telegraph reporter, Stephen Oni emerged best print reporter.
Earlier, the Chief Press Secretary(CPS) to
Kwara State Governor, Mallam Rafiu Ajakaye, in his keynote address, urged media houses and practitioners to be strategic in holding government accountable while playing their role as the fourth estate of the realm.
In the keynote address tagged ‘Role of the Media in Nigeria Soft Power Conundrum’, Ajakaye said “All of us (media) should take ownership of the Nigerian brand.
“Our population is surging every day; yet we have limited resources to get everything we need, especially human capital and foreign investments in our economy.
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“But we cannot attract the right investments and human capital if we do not project Nigeria as safe and right for all. If all we do is to record the vilest videos of unsavoury development and splash same on the internet or make it the banner headline that everyone sees across the world, we will be telling the world that our country is not safe.
“We can tell ourselves about our problems and work together to solve them or make scapegoats of the culprits. What we should stop doing is to put constant spotlight on the downsides of our society. No other nation does that.
Ajakaye added “Deaths linked to violent crimes in Nigeria stood at 15,245 in 2022. In 2021, deaths associated with gun violence alone in the United States stood at 48,830, a 23% rise since 2019.
“But while Nigeria is often portrayed as a scary place to be, the United States is seen as a paradise where all is well 24/7.
“The difference is in the narratives that come with these statistics. While the US media establishments are quick to explain away the violence in their own country, sometimes calling it the acts of lone wolves or depression, the narrative here is often that this is happening because this is a failed system, ran aground by failed and corrupt governments.
“The image we carve for our country is what sticks to it. If we call it a failed state because of its imperfections and crises of nation building, which are hardly exclusive to it, the result we get is what we call it.
“All of the nations we call the bastion of democracy or glamorise with every positives have or have had their own failings or down moments, perhaps worse than ours, which they paper over with nice narratives and excuses in their pursuits of national branding”.
He continued “neither asking the media to abandon its noble roles of being the watchdog of our society nor saying it should renege its duty as the fourth estate of the realm.
“But I am asking that we strike a deliberate balance between being journalists who report developments and being patriotic citizens and stakeholders who, along with our generations unborn, are also affected by whatever happens to Nigeria.
“If many cable networks in the ‘democratic’ west deliberately do not convey to the international audience everything that goes wrong in their society or frame such in manners that do not damage their national brand, I appeal that we also de-emphasise negative profiling of our country. I ask that we filter out to the global audience every little downsides of our society”.
The CPS however called on all media stakeholders to endeavour to give themselves and the country good names at all times, adding that they owe it a duty and responsibility to stand by the country.
In his welcome address, the chairman of the Correspondents Chapel, Mallam AbdulHakeem Garba said despite its critical roles, journalists still remain an endangered species.
He lamented Journalists fight for the rights of others while they find themselves at a loss when it is time to fight for their own rights.
Garba charged NUJ on the issue of non payment of journalists’ salaries and benefits.
The event similarly featured gifts presentation to some past chairmen of the chapel, while the CPS, Kwara Internal Revenue Service, Executive Chairman, Folashade Omoniyi and the immediate past Police Public Relations Officer, SP Ajayi Okasanmi received awards of excellence.