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Rita Enemuru, a student who turned fact-checker through one of DUBAWA’s capacity-building workshops, won the student category award at the just-concluded Africa Check Summit in Accra, Ghana.
Ms Enemuru won this award with her story on a claim that the Federal Government of Nigeria had mandated a DNA Test For Newborns.
Earlier in March 2024, Ms Enemuru from Delta State joined other journalists at a fact-checking training session ahead of the gubernatorial election in Edo State.
The training supported by the Google News Initiative was meant to build the capacity of non-urban media professionals in selected anglophone countries across West Africa.
The training rounds conducted in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ghana, and Nigeria saw 291 journalists trained in digital journalism skills, verification, and fact-checking journalism.
The award-winning fact check was published by stonixnews.com on April 6, 2024, barely a month after the training was shortlisted amongst 123 entries received by the Africa Check awards team. She, consequently, won the student journalists award category for 2024.
Ms Enemuru, a final-year student in the Department of Communication Arts, University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, told DUBAWA how the training spiked her deeper interest in fact-checking.
“My knowledge on the subject [of factchecking] was expanded in the DUBAWA’s fact-checking training held in Benin City, Edo State,” she said. “It helped me because I combined the knowledge I got to know to do a thorough investigation and fact-check on the claim that got me the award.”
On how she felt after receiving the award, Ms Enemuru said,
“I am excited and proud of myself. I mean, fact-checking is a skill I was introduced to some months ago and getting an award for it is a big deal for me.
“Fact-checking has redefined journalism for me. I now see it in a new light as not only the obligation of giving out information to the public but also factual information. I now take a second look at trending stories and go the extra mile verifying claims before writing my stories.”
Reacting to this win, DUBAWA’s Project Manager, Temilade Onilede said,
“Rita showed enthusiasm throughout the training, and we are super proud that she bagged this award due to her dedication and commitment to her work and the sanitisation of the information ecosystem in Nigeria.”
