CAMPUS REPORTER Journalist Graduates From Civic Hive Fellowship Programme

A Campus Reporter journalist, Kehinde Ogunyale, has been certified alongside 24 other journalists across Nigeria as Civic Hive Media Fellows at the just-concluded 2020 Civic Hive ATUPA fellowship.

The Civic Hive Atupa programme featured 25 financial journalists across Nigeria, it focuses on writing financial stories, drawing the attention of the citizens and also to drive advocacy messages to policymakers.

Kehinde Ogunyale, an award-winning student journalist and a final year student of Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, described the fellowship as an insightful experience which has broadened his knowledge on data and accountability journalism.

“Civic Hive gave me the platform to develop and train myself as a data journalist. The ATUPA fellowship, supported by BudgIT and US Consulate General Lagos, created a program where financial journalists could use data and visualisation to make the government transparent and accountable.

“As I trained myself to be an investigative journalist with specifics on community, environmental and developmental journalism, I corroborate my experience with data to work on stories that expose the injustice of governance.”

Being the youngest fellow amongst the selected journalists, the 23-year old Ogunyale expressed his delight over the feat noting that it has served as motivation for him to put more effort into his work. 

“The selection was done by the Civic Hive management team. We applied as financial journalists and I got selected. After this, I noticed I was the youngest amongst all 25 that were chosen. It was just a privilege provided by Campus Reporters and it’s a big win and a step to a better future in journalism.”

He advised fellow student journalists to be committed and determined despite the challenges of insufficient resources.

“The opportunity [for] Civic Hive came at a time when I was insufficient with gadgets. But I challenged myself to growth and here I am today. Basically, don’t let any circumstance limit your development,” he said.

In October 2020, Kehinde Ogunyale was also selected among the finalists for the Fact-Check Of The Year, Student Journalists Category at the 2020 African Fact-Checking Award for his story in which he investigated the claim on the Ogun Mobile Laboratory being the first in Africa.