Again, BusinessDay reporter wins Kwara award on business reporting

The Kwara State Correspondent of BusinessDay Newspaper, Sikirat Shehu Thursday won the Award of Excellence (Best Business Reporter of the Year 2021) organised by the State Correspondents’ Chapel as part the activities marking the 2021 Press Week.

She was among some members that were recognised based on their exceptional performance in different fields of media and journalism.

BusinessDay recalls that Sikirat had earlier won media awards as Female Journalist of the Year 2017 and 2018, respectively by the Kwara State Internal Revenue Service (KW-IRS). Similarly, the Kwara State Council of Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) recognised her as the (Business Reporter of the Year 2021).

Speaking on the rationale behind the gesture, Abdulhakeem Garba, the Chairman of the State Correspondents’ Chapel of Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), noted that it was an act meant to recognise outstanding members and as well to appreciate one another.

Read Also: BusinessDay’s Sikirat Shehu wins Kwara state best female journalist of 2017

Garba, who pointed out that there is always reward in hard work and selfless service, thanked members of the chapel and seeks unreserved support for the current executive.

In his submission, Biola Azeez, the chairman organising committee, explained that members of the correspondents chapel are about 45 and 11 categories were set out for entries while few of applicants won several awards.

“This was meant to recognise excellence and to encourage members to do better. I want to charge the winners not to relent at promoting professionalism. We cannot afford to fail,” he said.

Other winners include: Olufemi Akobi of AIT who won award of Best Health Reporter and Mumini Abdulkareem of Daily Trust conferred with Overall Reporter of the year 2021.

In his good will message, Michael Olarewaju, general manager of Diamond FM Ilorin, admonished practicing journalists to be committed and responsive in rendering their services to develop the country (Nigeria).

Similarly, Abosede Buraimoh, the state Commissioner for Communication said the role of media in setting agenda and change the narrative of a society given society can never be over emphasized.

Represented by Demola Olanrewaju, the commissioner said: “Talking about the roles of the media in any society, is as good as acknowledging their worth, particularly in the task of setting agenda for governments and for the people. Journalists encourage good governance through objective reportage.

“Without a responsible Press, there is bound to be chaos. In fact, absence of a responsible Press promotes anarchy and a birth of what Thomas Hobbes talks about life as being “Solitary, Poor, Nasty, Brutish and Short.”

Therefore, as Stakeholders in the Nigeria project, we have a collective role to play to tackle various tendencies of violence and apprehension that emanate from rumour peddling, or fake news, or sensational reporting in this country.

“Luckily, our state is gifted with a host of well-bred reporters that pay more attention to developmental journalism. I must affirm that your members have been highly professional, patriotic, and sincere about making a clear difference between sentiment and reality, regarding our government’s scorecards in all sectors in the last two years and some months.”