Alumni Spotlight: Zainab Adam

By Campus Reporter

Zainab Adam is a broadcast journalist and SDGs advocate whose reporting has contributed to driving social change in Borno State.

Currently a lecturer in the Department of Broadcasting at the University of Maiduguri, Adam previously served as the pioneer Station Manager of SMK Radio 96.5 FM, Maiduguri.

Her commitment to journalism and social change has earned her several recognitions, including the Alfred Opubor Award for Best Investigative Reporter in 2022, the Young Peace Advocate Award, and recognition among the 100 Most Impactful Young Nigerians.

Zainab’s Journey to Becoming a Journalism Practitioner and Mentor

Zainab did not begin as a perfect reporter. Her story began as a student journalist who had to write and rewrite her drafts.

Two of her lecturers in the Department of Mass Communication at the University of Maiduguri noticed her writing potential and encouraged her to start writing journalistic pieces. Initially, she doubted her ability but kept at it because of their constant encouragement and guidance.

One of the lecturers, Dr Sharafa Dauda, now the Acting Head of the Department of Journalism and Media Studies at the University of Maiduguri, later introduced Zainab to the Campus Reporter project, and she joined the platform.

Zainab’s Experience with Campus Reporter

Zainab attended her first formal Campus Reporter training in August 2019, when the team hosted a conflict reporting training at her university. She later participated in several other in-person and virtual training sessions organised by the project.

Through the programme’s mentorship component, her consistency was recognised, and Busola Ajibola recommended her for a digital rights training organised by Education as a Vaccine (EVA) in Abuja.

Zainab continued to write for Campus Reporter, honing her skills through feedback. She later won the Alfred Opubor Award for Best Investigative Reporter in 2022.

After graduation, she participated in the Next Gen Internship Programme, through which she secured an internship placement at Al-Ansar Radio 96.1 FM in Maiduguri.

“Campus Reporter taught me almost everything from the basics”

Zainab says participating in the Campus Reporter programme played an important role in her growth from an amateur writer to a professional journalist.

She recalled how the Campus Reporter mobile application, which provided templates to guide young journalists, helped her understand journalistic writing. She also described the feedback process, where mentors worked with her on her drafts until her stories were fit for publication, as an impactful learning experience.

“We were given tasks, paired with people who could guide us, and given opportunities to earn while doing the work. You will not believe that Campus Reporter even taught us basic techniques for conducting interviews,” she told Campus Reporter.

As her writing skills developed, Zainab began pitching story ideas to the Campus Reporter team and was commissioned to report them. This experience, she says, exposed her to the realities of journalism.

She recalled one of her earliest stories and a lesson that came with it. 

“For my first paid story, I worked with Mr Kemi Busari, and one of the organisations I visited tipped me. I informed him about it, and he asked me to return the money, which I did.”

Looking back, Zainab says Campus Reporter contributed significantly to her growth as a journalist. The programme introduced her to interviewing techniques, strengthened her writing skills, taught her about journalism ethics and the use of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), and gave her opportunities to put these skills into practice while earning from her work.

Campus Reporter “nurtures and brings out hidden talent”

Explaining why Campus Reporter remains relevant in today’s media landscape, Zainab noted that the programme nurtures and brings out hidden talents among students. She also highlighted its role in giving students who are not studying journalism an opportunity to build careers in the field.

She encouraged young journalists to remain resilient through the learning process.

“Don’t get discouraged by the number of drafts you have to write or the number of corrections you have to make to your stories,” she said.

From Campus Reporter to Journalism Mentor

Zainab has grown from being a campus journalist to becoming a journalism mentor who now nurtures young journalists through her work as a lecturer at the University of Maiduguri, while continuing to tell stories that matter.

Her journey represents that of many young journalists trained through the Campus Reporter project who are now contributing to societal development through the media.

Since its inception in 2017, the Campus Reporter project has played an important role in training the next generation of West African journalists. The programme has reached more than 4,300 students, many of whom have gone on to work in mainstream media and build careers across journalism and media.