A Nigerian journalist, Taiwo Adebulu, has won the 2020 African fact-checking awards.
His story “FACT CHECK: Nigeria told UN that 7 varsities run strictly on renewable energy, but is this true?” was rated as the best among 192 entries from 27 countries across the continent.
Adebulu, a reporter with TheCable, an online newspaper, had investigated how Nigeria’s Minister of Environment had grossly misinformed the United Nations at its Climate Action Summit in 2019, The Nation reports. .
In a ceremony that held on Thursday as part of the virtual African Investigative Journalism Conference, Africa Check, organisers of the competition, said the impressive entries submitted for the 2020 awards show the growing and vibrant practice of fact-checking on the continent.
“In what has been a year like no other, we’ve received the highest number of entries in the history of the African Fact-Checking Awards: 192 entries from 27 countries across Africa,” the organisers said.
“We’ve gone from strength to strength since our inaugural awards in 2014, when we had about 40 entries from 10 countries. This growth can only be a wonderful advertisement for the growing & vibrant practice of fact-checking on the continent.”
Adebulu, who holds a Master’s Degree in Communication Arts from the University of Ibadan, is also a recipient of the 2020 BudgIT/Civic Hive media fellowship.
In 2017, Adebulu won the sustainable development goals (SDGs) category of the Zimeo Excellence in Media awards in Ethiopia.
He was a finalist for The Future Awards Africa Prize for Journalism 2018.
He recently won the 2020 PwC Media Excellence Awards.
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