A Premium Times journalist, Saviour Imukudo, has emerged as the first runner-up in the 2025 edition of the Ray Ekpu Prize for Investigative Journalism.
The award, jointly sponsored by the Inoyo Toro Foundation and Thompson and Grace Investment Limited, recognises excellence in investigative reporting and celebrates the legacy of veteran journalist Ray Ekpu, co-founder and former editor-in-chief of Newswatch magazine.
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Mr Ekpu, one of Nigeria’s most decorated journalists, received the International Editor of the Year Award in 1987, an honour bestowed upon him in New York, United States. He holds the national honour of Officer of the Order of the Niger.
In its first three years, the annual prize conferred a single award of N500,000 on the winner during the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Akwa Ibom State Council Press Week Dinner Night. However, starting from 2024, the organisers expanded it to reward a first runner-up (N300,000) and a second runner-up (N200,000).
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In 2024, a Premium Times editor, Cletus Ukpong, won the top prize with his investigation into the ordeal of a Nigerian lecturer falsely accused of sexual harassment by the University of Uyo.
For the first time, this year’s ceremony was held alongside the Teachers’ Excellence Award, also supported by the Inoyo Toro Foundation, instead of the traditional NUJ Press Week Dinner Night.
Mr Imukudo was honoured on Friday for his investigative report, which revealed that despite Akwa Ibom’s substantial oil revenue and growing health budgets, most rural primary healthcare centres remain abandoned, understaffed, and without essential drugs or equipment.
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The report, funded by the Centre for Journalism Innovation & Development (CJID), also revealed that only a few facilities benefit from the Basic Health Care Provision Fund — and that even the benefitting facilities were barely functional.
The story highlighted a broader crisis in Akwa Ibom’s health sector — weak governance, poor funding, and systemic neglect — in a state that earns billions in oil revenue but still struggles to provide basic healthcare for its citizens.
Award dedication
Mr Imukudo dedicated the award to his late father, Joseph Imukudo, a retired cleric of The African Church, who passed away five days before the announcement on Friday.
“As a kid, my father always handed me newspapers to read after he was done reading,” he recalled. “He would also ask me to listen to Network News and give him a summary whenever he was away.”
The reporter thanked his editors at Premium Times for their mentorship and support.
“Like Isaac Newton said, ‘If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of those who came before me.’ My unlimited appreciation goes to our Editor-in-Chief, Musikilu Mojeed, Managing Editor, Idris Akinbajo, Assistant Managing Editor, Bisi Abidoye, and Health Editor, Nike Adebowale-Tambe, for their editorial guidance,” Mr Imukudo said.
He also thanked the Premium Times Digital Strategy Team, the CJID for funding the investigation, and his editor, Cletus Ukpong, for his commitment to nurturing young journalists.
READ ALSO: NUJ to Tinubu: Defend press freedom, review laws that criminalise journalism
Other winners
Ekemini Simon of TheMail Newspaper, Uyo, emerged as the overall winner of the 2025 edition.
Mr Simon, who jointly won the maiden edition in 2021, also clinched the top prize in 2022 and 2023, and was first runner-up in 2024.
Enwongoabasi Elisha of The Crest Newspaper was named the second runner-up for 2025.
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