ICIR Announces New Editorial Appointments, Amzat, Bamas, Odinaka Promoted

The International Centre for Investigative Reporting, The ICIR, has announced Ajibola Amzat as its new Managing Editor. Until his elevation, Amzat was the Editor of the Centre’s news website, www.icirnigeria.org. 

The Centre also announced the appointment of Victoria Bamas as The ICIR’s new Editor. Until her appointment, Bamas was the Editor/Team Lead of FactCheckHub, the ICIR’s fact-checking operation. 

Similarly, Temitayo Odunlami has been appointed as The ICIR’s Regional Editor, Southwest, Nigeria. 

Other announcements made include the elevation of Odinaka Anudu, erstwhile News Editor, to Deputy Editor and Opeyemi Kehinde, who moved from Head of Digital Content Unit/Deputy Lead, FactCheckHub to become Editor of FactCheckHub. 

Also, Ihuoma Chidozie, erstwhile Political Editor, moved to the position of News Editor, while Gbenga Adanikin of the FactCheckHub now becomes the Head of The ICIR’s Investigative Desk. Stanley Olaleke also becomes Head of the Centre’s ICT Unit. 

In the Programmes Department, Adeolu Kilanko is appointed Programs Manager while Gloria Agema becomes Deputy Programs Manager. Rosemary Igbeka also is promoted to the Finance Manager position of the non-profit organization. 

Dayo Aiyetan, the Executive Director of The ICIR, said the appointments were made to reposition The ICIR as a key player in the media industry in Nigeria. 

He said that in adapting to the realities of the times, The ICIR would be exploring new economic sustainability models to secure the future of the media organization, including launching its online newspaper before the end of the year. 

He said that the newspaper’s launching would coincide with the Centre’s 10th-anniversary celebration slated for sometime later in the year. Aiyetan noted the occasion of the anniversary celebrations would offer an opportunity to launch the New York office of the organization. 

AJIBOLA AMZAT, before his new appointment as Managing Editor, was the Editor at the International Centre for Investigative Reporting, The ICIR. 

He had previously worked with The Guardian newspaper, the flagship of Nigerian print journalism, and rose to the position of Features Editor before joining The ICIR in 2018. 

While at The Guardian, he covered various beats, including Property, Tourism, Education, Art, and Insurgency in the Northeast. 

He had also worked as Copy Editor for SaharaReporters in New York and as Southern African Correspondent for the London-based IQ4News and Opinion Article Writer for Grocott Mail, the oldest newspaper in South Africa. 

A media fellow of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, Amzat was among the newsroom leaders selected for the 2021 fellowship of the London School of Economics programme on Artificial Intelligence for the Small Newsrooms. 

He holds Higher National Diploma (HND) in Marketing from the Polytechnic Ibadan, a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mass Communication, and a master’s degree in International Law and Diplomacy from the University of Lagos. 

In 2011, he won the Knight Scholarship to study Journalism and Media Studies at Rhodes University, South Africa. He later obtained a scholarship to study Data Journalism at Columbia School of Journalism, New York in the United States. He is currently undertaking an executive programme pursuing a Master of Business Administration Degree at the Quantic School of Business and Technology, Washington DC. Amzat specializes in Investigative and Data Journalism. 

BAMAS VICTORIA is a multimedia journalist with an interest in digital storytelling, social media engagement, fact-checking, and media literacy. 

She has experience producing content for television, radio, print, and digital platforms in Nigeria. 

Before she was appointed Editor of the ICIR, she was the pioneer Team Lead and Editor of the Centre’s fact-checking operation, The FactCheckHub, where she oversaw the implementation and execution of the project as well as relations with relevant stakeholders. 

She was part of the team that won a 2015 WANIFRA young reader prize for their Read2Grow project for Daily Trust Newspaper. 

At Daily Trust, aside from being a member of the innovation committee, she also was part of the team that shaped its online and multimedia strategies. 

Bamas, who understands multiple Nigerian languages, has reported from Nigeria, Ghana, Benin Republic, Togo, and Ethiopia.

ODINAKA ANUDU grew through the ranks in the newsroom. He started as a reporter at Orient Daily and Orient Magazine and rose to become its South-East Bureau Chief. He moved to BusinessDay Media Limited as an Editorial Analyst and rose to the position of Investigations Editor. He later became Assistant Editor in charge of Industry- manufacturing, agriculture, aviation, ports, retail, health – supervising eight reporters and supporting the News Editor. 

He is a serial award-winning journalist. Some of the journalism awards he has won are PwC Tax Reporter of the Year (Winner, 2020 &2021); PwC SME Reporter of the Year (Runner-Up, 2020 &2021); Citi Journalistic Excellence Award (2019 winner, 2018 runner-up), African Fact-Checking Award (winner), Manufacturers Association of Nigeria Journalist of the Year (winner in 2016, 2017, 2018 & 2020), West African Business Reporter of the Year (runner-up), among others. 

Anudu holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy and Post-Graduate Diploma in Economics from Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka,  completing a master’s degree in Development Economics from the same university. He holds a Master of Science degree from the University of Salford, Greater Manchester, the United Kingdom. 

He also briefly studied Trade Negotiation at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). 

OPEYEMI KEHINDE is a multimedia journalist, fact-checker, social media strategist, and poet. 

He has had reporting stints at TELL magazine, the defunct Newsreel Newspaper, and The Business Eye (Nigeria) magazine. He also edited Love Drops magazine during his National Youth Service Corps assignment in Gombe State.  

Until April 2020, he worked as a multimedia journalist with the Daily Trust newspaper, where he covered major Nigerian elections from 2011 till 2019 and won the Media Trust Limited’s staff Integrity Award (2018).  

An alumnus of The Polytechnic Ibadan in Oyo State and Bayero University, Kano, where he studied Mass Communication, Kehinde also obtained his Master of Science degree in Mass Communication from Nasarawa State University, Keffi.  

A media trainer and youth advocate, Kehinde served as a fact-checking consultant for the IWPR’s Africa Resilience Network between 2020 and 2021. He authored investigative reports aimed at exposing COVID-19 misinformation and disinformation in Nigeria.  

He joined the FactCheckHub – the fact-checking arm of The ICIR – in June 2020 as its Deputy Editor and Amplification Team Lead.  

Until his recent appointment, he was the head of the Digital Content Unit at The ICIR. 

IHUOMA CHIDOZIE is a graduate of Mass Communication from Imo State University, Owerri, with several years of experience as a journalist. Before joining The ICIR, Chidozie was the State House (Abuja) Correspondent of The PUNCH Newspaper. 

He covered other beats, including the judiciary, business, and economy, as well as politics and governance. 

He has also covered international events such as the African Union and the G8 meetings and was nominated as the Nigerian participant in the Africa Journalist Training Programme, organized by the Japanese government for journalists from African countries in Japan. 

Until his new appointment, Chidozie was the Head of Politics at The ICIR.