Mr. Dapo Olorunyomi is the publisher of Nigeria’s leading investigative news platform, Premium Times, and the CEO of CJID. Previous to this, he served as pioneer policy director and chief of staff at Nigeria’s leading anti-corruption agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC. In 1995, Dapo founded Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism. In 2014, Dapo established West Africa’s first journalism innovation and development center – the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (formerly Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism). He is often referred to as the father of investigative journalism in Nigeria and many awards are testament to his phenomenal work and great legacy in the history of Nigerian media. The most recent award is from the Committee to Protect Journalists in 2020, which also announced him co-recipient of its 2020 International Human Rights Award. He was educated at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria; the Washington College of Law, American University, Washington DC; the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom and a Postgraduate Diploma in Innovation and Design Thinking by MIT Sloan, Columbia Business School Executive Education, and Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, USA.

Dr Tobi A. Oluwatola is the Executive Director of the CJID. In this role, he leads a team of 60+ professionals in five countries to promote democratic accountability in West Africa by strengthening the media. The CJID team builds civic technology tools, innovates in the media space, advocates for human rights and press freedom conducts policy research and advocacy, tackles information disorder, and trains over 1000 journalists annually in subjects as diverse as media and information literacy to climate change or conflict and security. He has 16 years of experience in policy, economic and financial analysis in the four continents. Dr Oluwatola started his career as a management consultant at KPMG. He also previously worked for the RAND Corporation and Castalia in the US, where he did policy advisory on behalf of the World Bank and other multilateral organisations. His PhD work focused on techno-economic modelling, data science, and industrial policy in renewable energy deployment and manufacturing. In 2010/ 2011, he led a youth movement of over 200,000 volunteers to support the presidential campaign of Nigeria’s anti-corruption tsar, Nuhu Ribadu. The group, now known as The Reformers, continues championing active citizenship. Dr Oluwatola is a passionate advocate of sustainable development. He is the founder and board chair of Madiba Foundation for Good Governance, a youth civic participation and advocacy organisation. He was a World Energy Council Future Energy Leader and helped start the One Young World movement as a pioneer ambassador. He is also the founder of TAO (pronounced “dau”) Energy, a commercial and industrial energy technology company with a mission to electrify underserved communities. He is a technology enthusiast and investor with an Africa-first mindset. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria and a PhD in Policy Analysis from the Pardee RAND Graduate School, California, USA.

Ms. Adebimpe Abodunde has well over a decade of experience in business development, tax, and audit consulting, employer and people services, and accounting services. Before CJID, she worked at Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Abuja Nigeria, 02 Telefonica United Kingdom, Deloitte Africa, and Hedge Professional Services Abuja.  

She joined the organization in February 2019 as Executive Assistant to the CEO/Publisher. In 2020, she became the Human Resource Manager and proceeded to be the Compliance and Evaluation Officer in 2022. She currently functions in the Director of Operations role.

Adebimpe holds a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology and attained a Master’s degree in Management. She studied for a Diploma in Human Resource Management at the Business School of Netherlands and a Postgraduate Diploma in Innovation and Design Thinking combinedly taught by MIT Sloan, Columbia Business School Executive Education, and Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, USA.

Akintunde Babatunde is currently the Director of Programmes at the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development. Working with a team of 60+ professionals in 5 Anglophone West African countries, he is responsible for programme leadership and coordinating projects that  advance independent media, revenue sustainability and journalism innovation across West Africa. 

Since joining the organisation in 2017, Akintunde has pioneered and/or led several of  the organisation’s flagship projects. He pioneered Dubawa between 2017-2018, where he authored dozens of articles, trained over 500 journalists and was nominated for “African Fact-checker Award of the Year 2018”.  Between 2018-2019, he led UDEME – CJID’s social accountability tool that allows citizens to hold the government to account on how development funds are spent. He subsequently pioneered the Natural Resources and Extractives Programme (NAREP), where he led the creation of a database that houses Nigeria’s monthly allocations to states and other state revenue data for the past 12 years. In 2021, he became the pioneer Deputy Director in charge of CJID’s Development programme, where he coordinated CJID’s efforts to drive research and policy work across West Africa on six projects, including natural resources and extractives; human development: health, education, and agriculture; conflict and security; climate change, and energy transition.

Akintunde has authored hundreds of articles on public policy, governance, and fiscal transparency on both local and international media platforms and coordinated fellowship programmes and over 30 capacity development programmes for over a thousand journalists, researchers, civil society practitioners, and government officials which has produced over 1000 reports; 7  policy briefs published in over 30 news agencies and development platforms in West Africa. He has made presentations on climate change policy in West Africa at various institutions, including the European Parliament and COP26 New York Times Climate Hub. His broadcast commentary has appeared on BBC, Channels TV, TVC, Silverbird, and NTA, among others.

Akintunde is a member of the International Youth Climate Movement, a UNESCO MIL Ambassador, a 2021 Climate Reality Leader, and a 2022 Mandela Washington Fellow of the Presidential Precinct. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Management/Mathematics from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, and an MA (with Distinction) in Media Practice for Development and Social Change from the University of Sussex as a Chevening scholar.

Caroline Anipah is the Deputy Director of the Verification and Media Literacy Practice at the Centrefor Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID). Prior to her current role, Caroline was Country Representative and Africa Expansion Lead (roles she still plays), Programme Officer, and Editor at Dubawa. She currently leads the establishment of Dubawa in Ghana and other countries in Anglophone West Africa. She has a Master of Philosophy degree (MPhil) in Communication Studies and a Bachelor of Arts in English and Political Science from the University of Ghana, Legon. She is an experienced trainer who has trained journalists across Anglophone West Africa on various media and communication topics on request by reputable organizations including the US Embassy (Ghana), Ghana Centre for Democratic Development, UNESCO, and tertiary institutions.

Busola Ajibola is currently the Deputy Director for Journalism Program at the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development. Busola is a trained philosopher and holds her first and second degrees in Philosophy. She has more than 13 years of experience in teaching, research, and advocacy on gender, accountability processes, and media development. She advocates on issues of social justice, equality, elimination of violence, media freedom, and independence. She has contributed to and continues to lead initiatives aimed at birthing the changes she would love to see including programming around freedom of expression, youth development, equality, and inclusivity both in the media and other aspects of national life. She has authored and co-authored several academic research papers.

Mboho is an experienced and seasoned project manager with 12 years of experience in providing complex analytical support for cross-functional strategic and transformational projects in the governmental, non-governmental, and media sectors. Adept at the use of data analysis tools and dedicated to maintaining high-quality standards using excellent organization, communication, and technical skills. He studied Library and Information Science at the University of Uyo. He looks forward to being an inspirational, corruption-free, detribalized, and accountable politician of international repute.

Bisan Habu is an expert business development, project management, and grants proposal writer, whose voraciousness for knowledge and experience has led to his work in different sectors of the economy including; Finance, Agriculture, Entertainment and the not-for-profit sector. He is currently the Partnerships Manager at the CJID, overseeing grants processes and programme partner’s management.

Before joining CJID, Bisan worked as the General Manager of Operations in LANI Group, where he oversaw business development, project implementation, business operations, and strategy formulation across various business entities. 

Bisan has a background in Agric. Economics and is an Associate of the Institute of Strategic Management (ISM).

Hillary Nwoziri oversees all internal and external communications processes and activities at the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development. He is a Communications for Development (C4D) professional with a demonstrated history of working with nonprofits and nonprofit actors across Africa and in Europe, especially in areas of storytelling, strategic stakeholder engagement, media relations, project management and training facilitation.

As an Independent Communications Consultant, Hillary has supported the capacity of over a dozen organisations across the continent to effectively engage their diverse community and audience through newsletter strategy development and other communications service offerings.

Hillary is ambitious about changing the African narrative and telling African stories. He holds a first-class bachelor’s degree in Linguistics and Communication Studies from the University of Port Harcourt.

Mrs. Imoleayo Folarin is the Finance and Admin Manager for the Centre of Journalism Innovation & Development and Dubawa where she coordinates grant management and oversees the financial and administrative operations of the organization for over 5years now. Mrs. Imoleayo Folarin has a Bachelor’s degree in Banking and Finance from the University of Abuja.

Nkechi is an HR and People & Culture Specialist with 8+ years of experience in management, strategy consulting, and stakeholder engagement across various sectors. She has expertise in Oil and Gas, Consulting, Engineering, Security Agencies, and Power industries. She holds a first degree in marketing from the University of Port Harcourt and is a certified Global HR professional from institutions such as Oracle, Harvard Business School Online, and SHRM-affiliated institutes. Nkechi is passionate about fostering employee wellness and workplace well-being. She creates positive organizational cultures and implements effective policies and procedures to drive organizational growth. Additionally, she co-founded “The Ripple Effect Foundation”, a non-profit organization in Nigeria that focuses on educating, feeding, and providing healthcare to marginalized communities, orphans, and Internally Displayed Persons.