Mariam Ileyemi, a PREMIUM TIMES reporter, has been selected for the 2026 Kwame Karikari Fact-checking and Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) Fellowship alongside 12 other journalists from across West Africa.
Ms Ileyemi emerged as one of the successful applicants selected from entries submitted across Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and The Gambia. The fellowship, organised by DUBAWA, aims to strengthen verification, accountability journalism, and efforts to combat misinformation and information disorder across the sub-region.
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Other fellows selected for the programme are Opeyemi Lawal (Nigeria), Alfred Koroma (Sierra Leone), Aisha Ayanna (The Gambia), Clinton Yeboah (Ghana), David Solomon (Sierra Leone), Eric Margo (Ghana), and Mark Smith (Ghana). Others are Promise Eze (Nigeria), Momodu Janneh (The Gambia), Nukanah Kollie (Liberia), Yankuna Corr (The Gambia), and Meshack Muin (Liberia).
The selected fellows underwent a rigorous selection process involving applications, interviews, and final evaluations before participating in a mandatory three-day virtual training held from 6 to 8 May.
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The training brought together 13 journalists from newsrooms across West Africa and exposed participants to fact-checking methodologies, media literacy, verification and OSINT tools, ethical reporting, and the evolving landscape of misinformation.
Named after Kwame Karikari, a professor and media freedom advocate, the fellowship is designed to equip participants with knowledge of the accountability journalism ecosystem in West Africa and strategies for tackling information disorder through legal, regulatory, and media literacy approaches.
Participants will also receive training in fact-checking methodologies, journalism ethics and verification, data analysis and presentation, media literacy, social media monitoring and analysis, website investigations, freedom of information and right-to-information laws in West Africa, as well as digital verification tools.
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The three-month fellowship, scheduled to run from 1 June to 31 August 2026, will focus on practical fact-checking and OSINT applications, mentorship sessions, and the production of fact-checks and investigative reports.
Now in its eighth year, the programme has become a key intervention in tackling information disorder across the region. A major component of the fellowship is the integration of OSINT techniques into journalism practice, helping fellows trace digital footprints, authenticate user-generated content, and identify coordinated online disinformation campaigns.
About Ms Ileyemi
Ms Ileyemi is a journalist on the Development Desk at PREMIUM TIMES, where she reports on health, gender, and development issues.
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Her work has examined maternal health, primary healthcare, public health systems, and health policy. She recently emerged as the PREMIUM TIMES Reporter of the Year 2025 at the organisation’s Annual Editorial Awards.
She is a fellow of the 2025 Africa Health Communications Fellowship by fraycollege, South Africa, and a beneficiary of the 2023 Media-EIS Fellowship.
She is also a recipient of the Mamman Marshall Scholarship for Women in Journalism and was nominated for the 2024 Nigeria Healthcare Excellence Award in the Prevent Epidemics category.
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