TheMail’s Journalist, Ekemini Simon Wins Ray Ekpu Investigative Journalism Prize for the Fourth Time
By TheMail Newspaper
Ekemini Simon, an Investigative Journalist with TheMail Newspaper has again won the coveted Ray Ekpu Prize for Investigative Journalism.
The award jointly sponsored by the Inoyo Toro Foundation and Thompson and Grace Investment Limited celebrates excellence in investigative reporting and also honour the legacy of Ray Ekpu, a founding member of the renowned Newswatch magazine who hails from Akwa Ibom state.
The award was announced at the Inoyo Toro Foundation 18th Teachers’s Awards and the 5th Ray Ekpu Award for investigative journalism in Akwa Ibom State held on Friday November 7, 2025 in Uyo. This is the first time the award ceremony is jointly held together with teachers’s award.
The winning report ” Gas Flaring: Niger Delta Communities Suffer as oil giants fail to pay Nearly N500 billion in penalties (Part 1 and 2) was published by Ekemini Simon in December 2024 with funding and support from the ICIR.
The report had exposed multi-billion-naira shortfalls in payments received by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) as gas flare penalties designated by the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) for environmental remediation and relief to oil and gas host communities. The report linked the shortfall to the failure of oil and gas companies to pay the actual amount in penalties as well as the inability of NUPRC to enforce the same.
The report revealed how communities in the Niger Delta are affected by environmental challenges and how the failure of the Nigerian government to utilise the penalties it has so far received for environmental remediation and relief continues to worsen the hardship of locals.
The winner of the Ray Ekpu Investigative Journalism award which started in 2021 has a prize money of N500,000.
27 entries were received for the 2025 edition of the award within and outside Akwa Ibom, said Nsikak Essien, a former editor of the defunct Concord newspaper, who chaired the screening committee.
Essien who said the entries recorded a significant rise in quality and numbers from other editions added ” The issues handled were more diverse and rich. They were more competitive.”
The second prize winner was Saviour Imukudo of Premium Times with prize money of N300,000 while Enwongabasi Elisha of The Crest Newspaper came third with a prize money of N200,000.
Ekemini Simon the winner of the 2025 edition of the Ray Ekpu Investigative Journalism prize has won the prize four times- 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2025. He came second to the Premium Times South South Regional Editor, Cletus Ukpong in 2024.
This is also not the first time an ICIR-funded report has won the Ray Ekpu Investigative Journalism Prize. The maiden edition of the prize was won by an ICIR-Funded report titled ‘ Akwa Ibom Governor, SSG in Multi-billion Naira Scandal’ reported by Ekemini Simon and Abasifreke Effiong.
Another ICIR-funded report titled ” How Akwa Ibom Government Diverted millions of Naira for Legislative, Judiciary and Media Projects (Part 1 and 2) also earned him the first runner up prize in 2024.