THE International Centre for Investigative Reporting, The ICIR, has announced Ajibola Amzat as its new Managing Editor. Until his elevation, Amzat was the Editor of the Centre’s news website.
The Centre also announced the appointment of Victoria Bamas as The ICIR’s new Editor. Until her appointment, Bamas was the Editor/Team Lead of FactCheckHub, the ICIR’s fact-checking operation.
Similarly, Temitayo Odunlami has been appointed as The ICIR’s Regional Editor, Southwest, Nigeria.
Other announcements made include the elevation of Odinaka Anudu, erstwhile News Editor, to Deputy Editor and Opeyemi Kehinde, who moved from Head of Digital Content Unit/Deputy Lead, FactCheckHub to become Editor of FactCheckHub.
Also, Ihuoma Chidozie, erstwhile Political Editor, moved to the position of News Editor, while Gbenga Adanikin of the FactCheckHub now becomes the Head of The ICIR’s Investigative Desk. Stanley Olaleke also becomes Head of the Centre’s ICT Unit.
In the Programmes Department, Adeolu Kilanko is appointed Programs Manager while Gloria Agema becomes Deputy Programs Manager. Rosemary Igbeka also is promoted to the Finance Manager position of the non-profit organisation.
Dayo Aiyetan, the Executive Director of The ICIR, said the appointments were made to reposition The ICIR as a key player in the media industry in Nigeria.
He said that in adapting to the realities of the times, The ICIR would be exploring new economic sustainability models to secure the future of the media organisation, including launching its online newspaper before the end of the year.
He said that the newspaper’s launching would coincide with the Centre’s 10th-anniversary celebration slated for sometime later in the year. Aiyetan noted the occasion of the anniversary celebrations would offer an opportunity to launch the New York office of the organisation.
AJIBOLA AMZAT, before his new appointment as Managing Editor, was the Editor at the International Centre for Investigative Reporting, The ICIR.
He had previously worked with The Guardian newspaper, the flagship of Nigerian print journalism and rose to the position of Features Editor before joining The ICIR in 2018.
While at The Guardian, he covered various beats, including Property, Tourism, Education, Art, and Insurgency in the Northeast.
He had also worked as Copy Editor for SaharaReporters in New York and as Southern African Correspondent for the London-based IQ4News and Opinion Article Writer for Grocott Mail, the oldest newspaper in South Africa.
A media fellow of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, Amzat was among the newsroom leaders selected for the 2021 fellowship of the London School of Economics programme on Artificial Intelligence for the Small Newsrooms.
He holds Higher National Diploma (HND) in Marketing from the Polytechnic Ibadan, a Bachelor of Science degree in Mass Communication and a master’s degree in International Law and Diplomacy from the University of Lagos.
In 2011, he won the Knight Scholarship to study Journalism and Media Studies at Rhodes University, South Africa. He later obtained a scholarship to study Data Journalism at Columbia School of Journalism, New York in the United States. He is currently undertaking an executive programme pursuing a Master of Business Administration Degree at the Quantic School of Business and Technology, Washington DC. Amzat specialises in Investigative and Data Journalism.
BAMAS VICTORIA is a multimedia journalist with an interest in digital storytelling, social media engagement, fact-checking and media literacy.
She has experience producing content for television, radio, print and digital platforms in Nigeria.
Before her appointment as Editor of the ICIR, she was the pioneer Team Lead and Editor of the Centre’s fact-checking operation, The FactCheckHub, where she oversaw the implementation and execution of the project as well as relations with relevant stakeholders.
She was part of the team that won a 2015 WANIFRA young reader prize for their Read2Grow project for Daily Trust Newspaper.
At Daily Trust, aside from being a member of the innovation committee, she also was part of the team that shaped its online and multimedia strategies.
Bamas, who understands multiple Nigerian languages, has reported from Nigeria, Ghana, Benin Republic, Togo and Ethiopia.
ODINAKA ANUDU grew through the ranks in the newsroom. He started as a reporter at Orient Daily and Orient Magazine and rose to become its South-East Bureau Chief. He moved to BusinessDay Media Limited as an Editorial Analyst and rose to the position of Investigations Editor. He later became Assistant Editor in charge of Industry- manufacturing, agriculture, aviation, ports, retail, health – supervising eight reporters and supporting the News Editor.
He is a serial award-winning journalist. Some of the journalism awards he has won are PwC Tax Reporter of the Year (Winner, 2020 &2021); PwC SME Reporter of the Year (Runner-Up, 2020 &2021); Citi Journalistic Excellence Award (2019 winner, 2018 runner-up), African Fact-Checking Award (winner), Manufacturers Association of Nigeria Journalist of the Year (winner in 2016, 2017, 2018 & 2020), West African Business Reporter of the Year (runner-up), among others.
Anudu holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy and Post-Graduate Diploma in Economics from Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, completing a Master’s degree in Development Economics from the same university. He holds a Master of Science degree from the University of Salford, Greater Manchester, the United Kingdom.
He also briefly studied Trade Negotiation at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR).
Kilanko Adeolu has over twelve (12) years of active professional experience in programme and project management. He is experienced in grant management, resource mobilization and management. He is competent in monitoring and evaluating projects to ensure that targeted goals and objectives are achieved and that relevant stakeholders are well informed through required reporting.
He has immense knowledge in policy analysis and engagements, institutional strengthening, training, and capacity development. Similarly, in activities and tasks management; advocacy and campaign management; information management; strengthening voice, accountability, and inclusion.
Adeolu holds a master’s degree in Industrial and Labor Relations – Kaduna State University and a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Babcock University. He is a member of the Nigeria Economics Society, and Portfolio and Debt Management Institute of Nigeria.
Before joining the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR), Adeolu Served as Program Manager for Global Rights, A Nigerian Non-Governmental Organization. He also worked with Transparency International (Defence and Security Program) as a Regional Program Manager.
TEMITAYO ODUNLAMI was until 2020 the Regional Editor (Southwest Nigeria) of the Daily Trust newspapers before joining The ICIR.
An experienced business and finance/ investigative journalist, Odunlami was Diamond Awards for Media Excellence (DAME) Reporter of the Year in 1999.
He was also one of the three finalists for the Washington DC, USA-based Global Award of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) for investigative reporter of the year 2000.
Odunlami has participated in many local and international workshops on business and finance reporting.
OPEYEMI KEHINDE is a multimedia journalist, fact-checker, social media strategist and poet.
He has had reporting stints at TELL magazine, the defunct Newsreel Newspaper and The Business Eye (Nigeria) magazine. He also edited Love Drops magazine during his National Youth Service Corps assignment in Gombe State.
Until April 2020, he worked as a multimedia journalist with the Daily Trust newspaper, where he covered major Nigerian elections from 2011 till 2019 and won the Media Trust Limited’s staff Integrity Award (2018).
An alumnus of The Polytechnic Ibadan in Oyo State and Bayero University, Kano, where he studied Mass Communication, Kehinde also obtained his Master of Science degree in Mass Communication from Nasarawa State University, Keffi.
A media trainer and youth advocate, Kehinde served as a fact-checking consultant for the IWPR’s Africa Resilience Network between 2020 and 2021. He authored investigative reports aimed at exposing COVID-19 misinformation and disinformation in Nigeria.
He joined the FactCheckHub – the fact-checking arm of The ICIR – in June 2020 as its Deputy Editor and Amplification Team Lead.
Until his recent appointment, he was the head of the Digital Content Unit at The ICIR.
IHUOMA CHIDOZIE is a graduate of Mass Communication from Imo State University, Owerri, with several years of experience as a journalist. Before joining The ICIR, Chidozie was the State House (Abuja) Correspondent of The PUNCH Newspaper.
He covered other beats, including the judiciary, business and economy, as well as politics and governance.
He has also covered international events such as the African Union and the G8 meetings and was nominated as the Nigerian participant in the Africa Journalist Training Programme, organised by the Japanese government for journalists from African countries in Japan.
Until his new appointment, Chidozie was the Head of Politics at The ICIR.
Agema Gloria Mwuese is a programme and project management expert. She has a cumulative industry experience of over 10 years working in the development sector with civil society organizations in Nigeria. She has been trained on elections particularly the Parallel Vote Tabulation (PVT) and Gender mainstreaming. She has supported the strengthening of democracy through election observation in Nigeria since 2011 and has received merit awards from the National Democratic Institute-NDI (a US-based Organization) for her sterling contributions to the growth of Nigeria’s democracy for the 2015 National Election.
Gloria graduated as the best graduating student from the Department of Political Science, Benue State University and has a PGD in Housing and Urban Development from the Erasmus University, Netherlands and a certificate of course completion on gender stereotype from the Institute of Development Studies, certificate on Civic engagement from the African Civic Engagement Academy, University of Georgia. Her area of interest is Programme Management, Open Contract Reporting, Monitoring and Evaluation, data-driven programming, research, good governance, gender, election and media. She is currently working with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting in Abuja as the Deputy Programme Manager.
OLUGBENGA ADANIKIN is a multiple award-winning journalist with almost a decade of experience in journalism and a keen interest in investigative reporting. He specialises in environment, business reporting, and exposing social injustice, especially as it relates to corruption.
A member of the Media Ministerial Committee on implementing the United Nations Environment Report (UNEP) on the Ogoni-Cleanup Exercise, Adanikin stringed for the African Development Bank (AfDB).
He joined the ICIR in 2018 as a Senior Investigative Journalist and later became a Researcher and Fact-checker for its fact-checking operation, The FactCheckHub.
He was The ICIR’s best journalist of the year in 2020. In 2021, he emerged the second-runner-up at the PwC Award and a Finalist at the West Africa Media Excellence Award (WAMECA).
STANLEY OLALEKE is a graduate of Electrical Engineering from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, where he also obtained a Master’s degree in Management Information Systems. He has vast industry experience in Software Engineering and web-related services. A creative, insightful technology enthusiast, he has over seventeen years of experience in the broad areas of Information Technology, media content creation & development, application support, security services, IT project management and strategic services. He is committed to developing creative business solutions, leveraging diverse methodologies and delivering engineering solutions for leading organisations. His interest and passion lend him the credibility of indulgence in Emerging Technologies with a special interest in cognitive science and Artificial Intelligence.