FACT-CHECKERS from The BBC global disinformation team in Nigeria and Faso Check from Burkina Faso have emerged winners at the 2024 African Fact-checking Awards held on Thursday, October 10, 2024, in Accra, Ghana.
The award ceremony, hosted by Africa Check, was the peak of the two-day Africa Facts Summit held from October 9 – 10 at the University of Ghana in Accra.
The award had participants from various African countries and winners were announced in three categories, namely: Fact-check of the year by a working journalist, Fact-check of the year by a student journalist, and Fact-check of the year by a professional fact-checker.
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In the professional fact-checkers category, Adnan Salif Sidibe from Faso Check, emerged winner with his fact-check of a claim that was made at the opening ceremony of COP28 in 2023.
While acknowledging the honour of receiving the award, Sidibe thanked the summit organisers for giving fact-checkers the platform to showcase their crafts.
In the working journalist category, the trio of Chiagozie Nwonwu, Fauziyya Tukur & Olaronke Alo from the BBC global disinformation team were declared the winner with their fact-check on a claim about the alleged certificate forgery of the current Nigerian President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Speaking with The FactCheckHub at the gala award event held at the Lancaster Hotel, in Accra, Ghana, Nwonwu thanked the organizers of the event while noting that he was happy to receive accolades from colleagues as this is the second accolade they would be receiving for the story due to the sensitive nature of the fact-check.
“It’s very important for us to be recognised for this; these came with a lot of death threats. We had to shut down our Twitter (X) handles… we wanted to hold the government accountable, we wanted to hold the president accountable. There was a lot of internal rebuke done on this story and this is the second time I’m being very happy about this story. This is the second time we are getting thumbs up from colleagues. Thank you,” he told the elated audience at the event.
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In the student journalist category, Rita Enemuru, a student at the University of Uyo, in Akwa Ibom, Nigeria took home the prize.
Enemuru expressed her gratitude to Africa Check for giving young people including students like her the opportunity to showcase their talent and professionalism while also thanking her superiors for their motivation.
Seasoned fact-checker and researcher Fatimah Quadri has written numerous fact-checks, explainers, and media literacy pieces for The FactCheckHub in an effort to combat information disorder. She can be reached at sunmibola_q on X or [email protected].
