14th Wole Soyinka Centre Media Lecture Series

Speakers

Speaker 1

Chiedo Nwankwor

Vice Dean for Education and Academic Affairs, Johns Hopkins University
School of Advanced and International Studies (SAIS)

Chiedo Nwankwor is a political scientist and lecturer in the African Studies programme at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Washington DC. She holds a doctorate degree in Political Science and International Relations. She has enviable years of experience working in the corporate and non-governmental sectors such as World Bank, Bloomberg Philanthropies and Premium Times Nigeria on gender justice matters, women political participation and development.

Speaker 2

Kole Shettima

Director, MacArthur Foundation, Africa Office

Kole Shettima is the Director of the MacArthur Foundation Nigeria Office whose primary goal is reducing corruption by supporting Nigerian-led efforts to strengthen accountability, transparency and participation. He sits on the boards of the Centre for Democracy and Development and Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation. The former University of Toronto and University of Maiduguri lecturer has published works in several academic journals.

Speaker 3

Ibiba Don Pedro

Managing Director, National Point

Ibiba Don Pedro is a journalist, author, environmentalist, media and development advocate. She began her journalism career in 1993 as a reporter and researcher at the Guardian Newspaper. She is the author of ‘Trapped in the barrel’, a sub-national investigation on the consequences of oil exploration on women in the oil-producing communities. The 2003 Cable Network News African journalist of the year publishes National Point, a Niger Delta-focused news publication.

Speaker 4

Haruna Mohammed

Co-publisher, WikkiTimes

He is the Editor and Head of Investigations, WikkiTimes Media and Publishing Limited. The investigative journalist is a passionate social activist and a community development volunteer who planned and executed community development projects in Bauchi and Kano States. Through his works, he has inspired donors to renovate schools in Bauchi State.

Speaker 5

‘Fisayo Soyombo

Founder/Editor-in-Chief, Foundation for Investigative Journalism and Social Justice (FIJ)

‘Fisayo Soyombo is an investigative journalist and founder of the Foundation for Investigative Journalism and Social Justice (FIJ). A three-time winner of the Wole Soyinka Award for Investigative Reporting, ‘Fisayo is a winner of many journalism awards, most recent being the Fetisov Journalism Awards (Outstanding Investigation category) in 2021 and the Kurt Schork Awards in International Journalism in 2020. He is best remembered for his undercover investigation in police cell and as an inmate in Ikoyi prison.

Speaker 6

Adaora Onyechere

Executive Director, Gender Strategy Advancement International

The talk show host of ‘Talk2Adaora’ on Kiss 99.9 FM, where social issues and the gap between policymakers and citizens are discussed, is a community journalism advocate.  Through her Women Enabling Women Everywhere (WEWE) network, indigenous brands are profiled, pitched and content developed using mainstream media. She holds a master’s degree in creative writing from Oxford Brooks University and a bachelor’s degree in English Broadcasting from London Metropolitan University.

Speaker 8

Mansur Liman

Director-General, Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN)

The current Director-General of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) is credited with helping the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) achieve the responsive design technology and improve the user experience of its bbchausa.com via mobile phones. Liman is a thoroughbred journalist who has a nose for breaking news. He holds a doctorate degree in Chemistry from University of Sussex, England, a master’s degree from Ahmadu Bello University and bachelor’s degree from Bayero University Kano.