PREMIUM TIMES’ journalist, Yakubu Mohammed, has been selected for the Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) Journalism Fellowship, an initiative spearheaded by the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) in partnership with Co-Develop.
Mr Mohammed, a member of this newspaper’s Data and Investigations Desk, was selected alongside 14 other journalists from 14 media outlets across Nigeria.
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Unveiling the fellows, the MFWA said the 15 journalists selected “emerged as the finalists from close to 200 applicants and 45 shortlisted candidates.”
“The 15 Fellows are drawn from a mix of print, broadcast, and online media outlets from Nigeria, and are made up of a fairly balanced gender representation of eight males and seven females,” the West African organisation stated in a statement on 29 October.
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This is the second time a PREMIUM TIMES journalist has been selected for the fellowship. Last year, Bakare Majeed of the newspaper’s National Desk took part in the fellowship.
About Fellowship
In its third phase, the Fellowship aims to amplify public awareness, participation and uptake of digital public infrastructure (DPI), as well as digital public goods and services (DPGs). The overarching goal is to facilitate the inclusive adoption of digital public infrastructure in Nigeria.
The six-month fellowship programme will run from October to April 2026.
“Over the six-month period, the Fellows are expected to produce at least six original and well-researched stories that facilitate awareness creation and public discourses around inclusive digital identification, digital payments, data exchanges, interoperability, safeguards and related issues in the design, implementation and uptake of DPI and DPGs in Nigeria and beyond,” MFWA stated.
According to the Executive Director of the MFWA, Sulemana Braimah, the fellowship represents “a strategic investment in fostering informed and independent media narratives that shape public discourses around inclusive design, implementation and uptake of DPI developments in the areas of policy, governance and utility.”
For the first three months, fellows will receive a monthly stipend of $250, while their newsrooms will be supported with $1,000 under a DPI/DPGs Newsroom Partnership Agreement.
“Additionally, fellows will have access to special investigative reporting grants to support in-depth story development about DPI and DPGs,” the MFWA said. “Selected Fellows who excel throughout the Fellowship programme will have travel opportunities to participate in international DPI/DPGs convenings.”
The fellowship seeks to equip participants with skills to create impactful reports on national digital identification systems, online data security, and digital governance through specialised workshops, mentorship, and hands-on story production.
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About Mr Mohammed
Mr Mohammed specialises in conflict and accountability reporting, covering issues around banditry, terrorism, environment and corruption in the public sectors.
He has visited remote areas, combining field reporting skills and open-sourced intelligence (OSINT) tools to tell stories around banditry, terrorism, illegal mining and other environmental issues intersecting with security.
He was among the 12 journalists shortlisted for the 2025 Thomson Foundation Young Journalist Award. He graduated at the top of his class in the Mass Communication department at the Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai, Niger State.
Before joining PREMIUM TIMES, Mr Mohammed had worked with WikkiTimes as a news editor. He started his career with The Guardian newspaper in Lagos, before joining the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ), where he moved to WikkiTimes.
With more than six years of experience, Mr Mohammed has authored several investigations that sparked public discourse and had an impact on local communities.
Since joining PREMIUM TIMES, he has produced consequential reports on humanitarian crises, terrorism financing, cross-border terrorism, illegal mining, and accountability reporting that have held government parastatals, including security agencies, accountable.
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