Three BusinessDay journalists Odinaka Anudu, Isaac Anyaogu, and Temitayo Ayetoto were honoured at the 2020 PwC Media Excellence Award held virtually on Friday.
Anudu won the Tax Reporter of the Year award for his entry, ‘How Lagos revenue goes into private pockets.’ The story is an investigative piece that exposed how officials of Lagos State government use their private bank accounts to receive public funds. Anudu went undercover and caught some of the officials red-handed. His investigative report made an instant impact as the officials were suspended and disciplined, while the multiple payments by the officials were stopped by the state government at Isolo Local Council Development.
He also finished as the second runner-up on the SME category with his feature story entitled, ‘Killing the golden geese,’ which chronicled multiple taxations on SMEs in Lagos and how government officials steal publicly collected revenue in the state.
Anudu, a winner of many local and international awards, is an Assistant Editor heading the flagship’s Investigative Desk and Industry Desk.
On the other hand, Anyaogu, another serial award winner, won the SME Reporter of the Year award for his story, ‘A fistful of poisoned gold,’ which exposed the dangers posed by gold miners in Niger State. His story called on the authorities to move in and regulate the sector to save the lives of villagers. Anyaogu has won various categories of the PwC award in the last three years. He is an Assistant Editor in charge of the Energy Desk.
Temitayo Ayetoto, BusinessDay’s investigative and health reporter, was listed among the last five on the Business and Economy category for her
story, ‘Coronavirus is the killer, PPE shortage is the catalyst.’ The story is an investigation into how shortage of
personal protective equipment (PPE) for health workers at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), the University College Hospital (UCH) Ibadan, and the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) led to the deaths of patients.
The Finance and Capital Market category was won by Taiwo Adebulu of The Cable while Tunde Ajaja of The Punch walked off with the Business and Economy award.
Taiwo Oyedele, West Africa Tax Leader at PwC, noted that a total of 174 entries were recorded, noting that the winning stories had very quality.
