Nigerian journalist, Samad Uthman and his Ghanaian counterpart, Kwetey Nartey were announced joint winners of the West Africa Journalists of the Year 2021 award by Media Foundation for West Africa. In this interview with select journalists, Uthman spoke about his most challenging journalism work. IFEDAYO OGUNYEMI brings excerpts.
How do you feel emerging joint winner of the best journalist award at West Africa Media Excellence Conference and Awards (WAMECA) 2021?
I felt so great and it is rewarding. I least expected it. I was at first shocked to see my name on the overall winner shortlist. But it’s a great moment when you see a story that took your health, time and energy rewarded with an international award.
What motivated you to enter the competition and did you feel the competition was beyond your reach to apply for in the first place?
Actually, WAMECA is an award investigative journalists do hope to clinch annually. When I saw the call for application, I applied some minutes to the end of it. I didn’t take it serious. When I got an email from WAMECA that I was shortlisted, I had to go search email for my submissions to remember the stories I submitted for the award. WAMECA is a big award for West African journalists and it feels great to bring it home, particularly being the first Nigerian to clinch that. It is a win for all Nigerian journos doing public interest journalism.
Did you at any point think you were going to win after you were nominated as a finalist?
For me, the shortlist itself was a win. Getting the award at the end was simply a dream come true and an attestation to my kind of journalism.
Your report focused on the illegal trials of Pfizer’s Cerebral Spinal Meningitis vaccine on Kano children in 1996. How would you describe your findings?
It’s meticulous and extensive. At the moment in my career, the story is the first most painstaking and demanding work I have written. I didn’t rush it, I took my time to fact-check everything I got from the source. I did this because I understand quite well that if I get anything wrong about this story to the public, even after my death, the wrong assertions will continue to live, and as a journalist with high regard for fact-checking and press freedom, I don’t joke with false information and disinformation to the public, I get my information right before pushing it to my editors.
What inspired you to carry out such a project on an issue that took place over 20 years ago?
It’s a serious story nobody wants to work on or discuss in Kano State but I feel as a journalist, I have a calling which is putting a smile on the faces of people marginalised by the bad guys in government and corporate world.
I grew up on the street and understand what it means to be denied one’s right. Like I said earlier, it was basically for public good.
What challenges did you face while investigating and how long did it take for you to complete it?
As I stated earlier, it’s the first most demanding story in my career, I have been working on the second most demanding work right now. While I was on the field, I was initially on my itinerary to spend four days in Kano. It was later extended to two weeks.
After the first four days on field, my fixer and interpreter absconded. In-between waiting for an eleventh hour miracle, I got infected with malaria. I was sick and took injections for three days. I took the injections to my right arm and it got swollen.
On the fifth day, even after the injections, the arm was still swollen and I got a call from the Abuja office, my publisher, to meet a journalist.
With the swollen arm, I had to pick up my camera equipment and light, with every other thing I needed and mount it up. I still used the arm to carry these heavy loads.
The meeting was fruitful with the journalist I met and that’s the spark to the story. It took me a month to draft, and another one month to work on the documentary. I finished the story and it’s great.
What would you say is the impact of that investigation on all stakeholders involved so far?
I was able to put faces to those behind the botched trial; a trial that they can’t conduct in their own country. A trial United States authorities forbade them to conduct there. No one knows them in full. I opened their faces to the public. I am still putting up with the victims and the ultimate reward I aim for right now is the victims getting their entitlements.
In what way has winning this coveted journalism prize affected you positively?
Well, the reward of hard work and compensation like WAMECA is more work. I want to do more impact journalism. It is a calling and not a profession.
Did the COVID-19 pandemic which so many corporations have created vaccines for including Pfizer, influence this investigative piece? How?
I did the story before the COVID-19 vaccine was rolled out. In fact, it was at the time everyone was anticipating a vaccine for the killer-disease, the trials were still ongoing then and while I cannot say it influenced the story per say, the urgency to execute the story was influenced by the ongoing COVID-19 vaccine trials then.
Do you harbour any fears that Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine or any other will have such an aftereffect on the recipients?
So far, no adverse effects have been reported yet. We are still observing and it’s too early to conclude that there won’t be any or otherwise.
After this huge win, what’s next for Uthman Samad?
To do more great stories like I have always been doing with or without awards.
YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE HEADLINES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
Buhari Urges MTN For Quality Service, Downward Price Review In Cost Of Data, Other Services
President Muhammadu Buhari Friday at State House Abuja urged the MTN Group to make the available top-of-the-range service to its Nigerian subscribers…
We Have Not Had Water Supply In Months ― Abeokuta Residents
In spite of the huge investment in the water sector by the government and international organisations, water scarcity has grown to become a perennial nightmare for residents of Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital. This report x-rays the lives and experiences of residents in getting clean, potable and affordable water amidst the surge of COVID-19 cases in the state…
Selfies, video calls and Chinese documentaries: The things you’ll meet onboard Lagos-Ibadan train
The Lagos-Ibadan railway was inaugurated recently for a full paid operation by the Nigerian Railway Corporation after about a year of free test-run. Our reporter joined the train to and fro Lagos from Ibadan and tells his experience in this report…
2021 joint best journalist in West Africa