Broadcasting
Orodata Science Begins Second Cohort of ADH Community Journalism Fellowship
Orodata Science is thrilled to announce recipients and the start of the second cohort of the ADH Community Journalism Fellowship programme.
The 3-month program’s objective is to improve media capacity to advance news coverage of under-reported issues in local communities across Nigeria using technology, focusing on potential solutions with lasting impact on effective public service delivery, grassroots development, and improving the quality of life.
The premier fellowship is a conscientious, interactive learning and development experience empowering participants with new knowledge on Data Analytics for journalism, Geospatial analysis and remote sensing, Community project tracking and more. The fellowship also offers an opportunity for peer-to-peer learning, access to a larger network of professionals, and facilitated mentoring.
“With every cohort, the fellowship is building up the capacity of local newsrooms to report efficiently using evidence backed by data. By building the skills of these exceptional individuals who often work in constrained circumstances, we want to help enhance their work towards the strengthening of their communities,” said the Fellowship Global Lead Blaise Aboh. “With these new skills, fellows can employ new forms of digital storytelling to ensure that their stories are amplified, reach new audiences, and stay afloat long enough for decision-makers to pay attention.”
The programme’s first cohort of 8 fellows, 4 male, and 4 female, have gone on to produce great pieces of work, which today have been amplified to reach over 2 million people, and have propelled the government to act on findings.
Each cohort is selected through a rigorous process, and from a large applicant pool. Candidates pitch their story idea emphasizing how it relates to the thematic area of the programme, and decisions are made based on the pitches that meet up the program’s selection criteria. Applicants interested in participating in the 3rd cohort should get ready for another call in two months.
The ADH Community Journalism Fellowship (ACJF) is an initiative of Orodata Science as it continues to deliver on its promise to enable equitable access to information and knowledge towards solutions that impact the lives of millions. The program is supported by Africa Data Hub, a reputable and up-to-date source for data on the African continent which promotes quality access to information, and data-driven journalism to facilitate evidence-based decision-making.
Meet the ADH Community Journalism Fellows!
Fasilat Oluwuyi
Fasilat Oluwuyi is a Freelance Journalist based in Nigeria with over five years of experience working in print, and online media. Her wealth of experience spanned editing, writing, and content creation.
She is an experienced Reporter with a demonstrated history of working in the media production industry. Skilled in Magazines, Editing, Journalism, Media Relations, and Digital Media. Strong media and communication professional with a National Diploma, Higher National Diploma focused in Mass Communications from Mashood Abiola Polytechnic Abeokuta.
Blessing Oladunjoye
Blessing Oladunjoye is an award-winning journalist and Publisher of BONews Service, a development news platform that leverages technology to promote issues of women, persons with disabilities, and children.
Blessing is based in Lagos; Nigeria and her work revolves around gender and social inclusion. In March 2022, she received an Impact Award from the European Union in Nigeria, in recognition of her outstanding contributions to advancing rights and access to justice for women with disabilities, through inclusive journalism. She is one of the 2022 Solutions Journalism African Fellows of the Solutions Journalism Network where she reports initiatives that are addressing social issues.
Daniel Adaji
Daniel Adaji is a Journalist, a Researcher, and Data Analyst with The Insight. He holds a Master’s degree in Agricultural Economics from the University of Agriculture Makurdi and has attended several pieces of training and workshops related to the new media. He is a member of several professional bodies including the Nigerian Factcheckers’ Coalition. As a journalist, he has done and published several human-angle stories cutting across health, gender, climate change, agriculture, and finance. Daniel has authored and contributed to research articles both in local and international academic journals.
Daniel works on the investigation and FactCheck desk of The Insight and he has brought several innovations that have helped move the News platform beyond traditional media.
Nkechi Macaulay
Nkechi Macaulay is a seasoned multimedia journalist with over 13 years of experience from the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, adolescent reproductive health rights advocate trained by Marie Stopes international with a particular focus on men’s and boys’ reproductive health rights.
She is also the founder of Boyslivesmatter Foundation, an organization designed to create awareness of the sexual abuse of Boychild and to educate boys on comprehensive sexuality education.
She is also a sexual harassment workplace trainer in the media and churches. She helps create sexual harassment policies, enabling a platform for staff to air their grievances, and offering access to seek counseling from a behavioral therapist.
Ugonna Agu
Ugonna Is a graduate of Mass Communication from Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. She has been working with Radio Nigeria as a reporter for 10 years now and counting, reporting on the paramilitary, and has an interest in investigative journalism as it concerns Gender base.
She has undergone various pieces of training in both online and real-time with different media organizations including Reuters institute and the light center of journalism in America.
Patrick Obia
Patrick Obia is an investigative journalist, a photojournalist, a cinematographer, a video editor, and also an assistant editor with Cross River Watch. He has been a fellow with the Civil Media Lab, and a Bachelor’s degree holder in Mass Communication from the University of Cross River state.
NTIEDO EKOTT
Ntiedo holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Economics and a Bachelor of Science in Statistics from the University of Uyo and the University of Port Harcourt respectively.
He is a researcher with over five years of experience in data journalism, research, and project management, and a journalist at the Center for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID), formerly Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism. He works at the Agricultural Development desk of the organization. He anchor’s CJID’s weekly newsletter titled “Agric Digits”, which provides a quick summary of important figures from the Nigerian agricultural sector.
Elijah Akoji
Elijah is a graduate of Mass Communication from Bayero University Kano, with over 4 years of experience in investigative reporting on open contract reporting (OCR) with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR), Climate reporting, and also the Grassroots News Project in the North West and some part of the North East.
Elijah has been a freelance investigative journalist for a couple of media houses in Nigeria and has a focus area on reporting on budget review, procurement fraud, issues of climate change, and helping create awareness in rural and grassroots orientation.
National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has said that its planned Digital Switch-Over (DSO) project will create access to Nigeria’s N605.2 billion advertising market for broadcasters and content creators.
Speaking at a press conference, Charles Ebuebu, director-general, NBC, said the project is expected to officially launch nationwide on June 17, 2026, while analogue television broadcasting will completely end by December 31, 2028.
According to him, the switch from analogue to digital broadcasting will help government agencies deliver better television services across Nigeria in a way that is sustainable, reliable, and easier to regulate.
Ebuebu explained that digital broadcasting will allow broadcasters and content creators to earn more revenue because audience data can be measured more accurately.
He also said the project could benefit the economy through the release of valuable 700/800 MHz spectrum, which may generate more than $1 billion from future auctions.
The funds are expected to support digital infrastructure and expand broadband access in rural communities.
NBC added that Nigeria’s creative industry, which contributes about N5 trillion to GDP and supports more than 4.2 million jobs, could benefit from improved content distribution and export opportunities across West Africa using NigComSat-1R.
For consumers, NBC said the FreeTV service will not require monthly subscription payments. Households will only need a small satellite dish and an open-standard DVB-S2 decoder, estimated to cost between N15,000 and N25,000.
Broadcasters were encouraged to join the FreeTV platform and take advantage of an 18-month free carriage period.
However, the Commission noted that there is still an ongoing legal dispute involving local manufacturers over set-top boxes, although officials said this will not stop the national rollout.
On satellite expansion plans, Jane Egerton-Idehen, managing director and CEO, Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited, said NIGCOMSAT 2A is expected in 2028, while NIGCOMSAT 2B is planned for 2029.
She added that backup arrangements have already been made to ensure uninterrupted service and that migration to the new system will happen gradually across different regions to avoid nationwide disruptions.
National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has unveiled a new “Big Picture” strategy aimed at achieving full nationwide Digital Switch-Over (DSO) by December 31, 2028.
DSOis designed to provide Nigerians with superior picture and sound quality while unlocking an estimated N605.2 billion in advertising revenue and generating over $1 billion from digital spectrum auctions.
Charles Ebuebu, director-general of NBC, in a statement issued on Monday, said the revised strategy adopts a converged broadcasting model combining Direct-to-Home (DTH), Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) and Internet Protocol (IP) systems to expand access to digital television services nationwide.
The Commission also announced June 17, 2026, as the official national launch date for the renewed rollout, describing the framework as a more practical pathway toward a sustainable and affordable digital broadcasting system after nearly two decades of delays.
Ebuebu, said that the transition is no longer being treated as a competition between technologies but as a unified access solution tailored to Nigeria’s geographic and infrastructure realities.
“The Big Picture strategy recognises convergence as the future of broadcasting and aligns with the 2012 DSO White Paper, which adopted both terrestrial and satellite standards including DVB-T and DVB-S2 technologies,” the statement said.
NBC said the Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited (NIGCOMSAT) would play a central role in national content distribution, particularly in underserved and remote areas where terrestrial infrastructure remains weak.
The Commission cited countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Kenya, South Africa and Morocco as examples of jurisdictions that successfully adopted hybrid digital broadcasting models to accelerate migration from analogue systems.
On affordability, NBC assured Nigerians that the proposed FreeTV platform would remain subscription-free for baseline access, adding that compatible DVB-S2 decoders currently cost between N15,000 and N25,000. It said discussions were ongoing on possible subsidy arrangements and financing options for low-income households.
The regulator also defended its plan to support both local manufacturing and transitional importation of set-top boxes, noting that Nigeria would require millions of devices over several years to complete the migration.
Beyond transmission, NBC disclosed plans to introduce a national audience measurement system under the GARB ratings framework to improve advertising transparency and broadcasting analytics.
It projected that the DSO programme could unlock Nigeria’s estimated N605.2 billion advertising market while also freeing up valuable digital dividend spectrum estimated at over $1 billion.
NBC further said Nigeria’s creative industry, valued at about N5 trillion and employing more than 4.2 million people, stands to benefit from expanded distribution channels and improved content monetisation.
Broadcasters, it added, would enjoy free carriage on the platform for 18 months, alongside wider national reach, indigenous language channels and improved commercial opportunities.
Association of Licensed Set-Top Box Manufacturers of Nigeria (STBMAN) has warned that the unilateral implementation transition from analogue to digital broadcasting, could trigger confusion, legal disputes, and disruptions capable of undermining the credibility of the 2027 general election.
STBMAN urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to urgently intervene and halt what it described as a unilateral implementation process, pending wider consultations with stakeholders in the broadcasting industry.
Sir Godfrey Ohuabunwa, chairman of the association in statement in Abuja, faulted the current implementation process by the National Broadcasting Commission’s (NBC).
STBMAN said that although it supports Nigeria’s digital migration programme, the approach currently being pursued by the NBC appeared rushed and inconsistent with the 2012 Digital Switchover (DSO) White Paper approved by the Federal Executive Council.
The association argued that the arrangement being presented as a Digital Switchover was merely the aggregation of channels on NigComSat platforms rather than a fully Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) migration as originally envisioned under the national DSO framework.
According to the group, failure to carry critical stakeholders along could erode public confidence, weaken access to information, and create avoidable disruptions in the broadcasting sector at a politically sensitive period ahead of the 2027 elections.
It noted that millions of Nigerians still depend on free-to-air broadcasting for information dissemination, civic education, election coverage,e and public enlightenment.
The group stressed that any poorly coordinated migration process could result in signal disruptions, public confusion, and unequal access to information during the election season.
STBMAN also expressed concern that the NBC risked creating a conflict of interest by acting simultaneously as regulator and content aggregator, contrary to the spirit of the 2012 White Paper and global best practices guiding digital broadcasting migration.
The association, therefore, called for an urgent national stakeholders’ roundtable, an independent legal and technical review of the DSO process, review and update of the 2012 DSO White Paper, nationwide public sensitisation on the implications of digital migration, and measures to protect local broadcasting and public interest.
It maintained that it was not opposed to digital migration but insisted that the process must be transparent, inclusive, lawful, and technically sound.
The group warned that failure to properly manage the transition could weaken democratic communication structures, waste public resources, and negatively affect national cohesion and the credibility of the 2027 elections.
“Mr. President, Nigeria cannot afford confusion in its broadcasting system at a time the nation is preparing for another critical democratic transition. The time to act is now,” the statement added.
Association of Licensed Set-Top Box Manufacturers of Nigeria, represents domestic electronics manufacturers responsible for producing the decoder boxes needed for the country’s transition from analogue to digital broadcasting.
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