CITATION OF Folashade Adebayo

WINNER OF THE CONFLICT SENSITIVE REPORTING PRIZE SPONSORED BY THE NIGERIA STABILITY AND RECONCILIATION PROGRAMME

This is an award introduced to deepen journalists’ understanding of the factors that shape conflicts and promote the need for greater sensitivity in addressing them in reports and commentaries so that journalism does not become part of the problem but indeed help to find lasting solutions to them. It is the first time such an award is being given at DAME.

The DAME judges found Folashade Adebayo’s report to be a sensitive and unobtrusive account of the downside of violent terrorism and its effects on society. It details the spill-over effect of insurgency on education in Nigeria’s northeast region. It speaks to the collateral impacts of macro-environmental influences on professional work by highlighting the dilemmas of the development process which leaves systems at the mercy of individual choices, and touches at the often feeble attempts to fundamentally deal with systemic issues. Notwithstanding its depressing subject, Folashade’s story is also one of hope that celebrates the Nigerian spirit to overcome in the face of grave odds.

Folashade Adebayo is making her second appearance on the DAME winners’ platform, having previously won the Child Friendly Reporting prize in 2014.

Formerly with TELL Magazine, she joined the Punch in 2014 and has risen to become a Senior Correspondent. Adebayo holds a degree in journalism from the Lagos State University in 2009.