TheMail’s Ekemini Simon Selected for Dataphyte Biodiversity Reporting Fellowship
By Imoh Etim
TheMail Newspaper Investigative and Environmental Journalist, Ekemini Simon has been selected along other journalists in Nigeria for the Dataphyte Biodiversity Fellowship.
The fellowship run by Dataphyte Foundation with support from Earth Journalism Network, commenced in August and would run through October 2025.
According to the Country Director of Dataphyte, Oluseyi Olufemi, the fellows were selected from a competitive pool of over 200 applications and will be strengthened to carry out evidence-based reporting around Nigeria’s biodiversity crisis.
He said the fellowship offers training and support for reporting on critical issues such as destruction of forest reserves, species extinction, destructive land-use practices, destruction of water bodies, nature-based conservation strategies, and the unintended consequences of conservation efforts.
Olufemi noted that the fellowship expects fellows to carry out reports that can generate national discourse and contribute to biodiversity and environmental solutions.
Ekemini Simon is a multiple award winning journalist who has been part of several fellowships and networks within Nigeria and beyond.
His reports are reputed for its impact even as he bagged the Ibanga Isine prize for Impactful Reporting Award in 2023.