At WAMECA 2025, TheCable’s Jemilat Nasiru, Mansur Ibrahim win more awards

TheCable journalists, Jemilat Nasiru and Mansur Ibrahim, have been named winners at the 2025 West Africa Media Excellence Conference and Awards (WAMECA).

Nasiru, a staff writer, and Ibrahim, the multimedia manager, jointly won the environmental reporting category at the award ceremony held on Sunday in Accra, Ghana.

Their winning story, titled ‘Living on Borrowed Time: How Nigeria’s Unchecked E-waste is poisoning residents, environment’, exposes the dangers of improper disposal and recycling of electronic waste in Nigeria.

The story also highlights how weak regulatory enforcement enables the continuous importation of toxic e-waste into the country.

Nasiru and Ibrahim were shortlisted alongside 24 other finalists from seven African countries.

Commenting on the story, Hamadou Tidiane Sy, one of the four members of the grand jury, praised the work for its strong reporting and visual storytelling.

“It is a great story. What I particularly like about it is the field work. I think most times, what we fail to do as reporters is go meet the real people and hear their realities. This piece took us underground,” Sy said.

“The story is written in such a way that if policymakers, decision-makers, and even ordinary citizens read it, it can definitely raise awareness on a very serious issue.”

Expressing their gratitude, Nasiru and Ibrahim thanked the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) and their colleagues at TheCable who worked behind the scenes to bring the investigation to light.

They also urged the public to be more mindful of how they discard and recycle electronic devices to protect both human and environmental health.

Other winners at the event include Theophilus Adedokun of National Record (extractive sector reporting), Faruk Umar Shuaibu of Daily Trust (DPI & DPGs category), Kanssouguibe Douti of Laabali, Togo (human rights category), and Abdulrasheed Hammad of Pen Press (telecommunications category).