Nigerian Fellowship Trains Journalists in AI Investigation

Northern Nigeria's WikkiTimes is launching a groundbreaking fellowship that will arm local journalists with artificial intelligence tools to expose illegal mining and environmental destruction in under-reported communities.

The Anas Aremeyaw Anas AI Accountability Fellowship targets a pressing problem. Mining operations across Northern Nigeria have exploded in recent years, bringing illegal extraction, environmental devastation, and community displacement. Yet these abuses rarely make headlines because local reporters lack access to advanced investigative tools.

The six-month program will train journalists from across Nigeria's 19 northern states to use AI, satellite imagery, geospatial analysis, and open-source intelligence to document extractive sector crimes. Fellows will spend three months learning these cutting-edge techniques, then three months producing in-depth investigations with editorial mentorship.

The fellowship carries the name of renowned Ghanaian investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas for good reason. WikkiTimes Publisher Haruna Mohammed Salisu recalls inviting Anas to speak at a conference in Gombe. When Anas missed his flight, he didn't cancel. Instead, he drove through one of Nigeria's most dangerous routes, departing at 10 p.m. and arriving at 3 a.m., just to address young journalists that morning.

"He took that risk because he believed the young people we brought together deserved to be encouraged," Haruna said. That dedication inspired dozens of emerging reporters and students at the event.

Why This Inspires

This fellowship represents more than technical training. It's about igniting courage in journalists working in forgotten places where powerful interests would prefer silence.

Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan once spoke of a special spark in Anas's work. WikkiTimes wants to light that same spark in reporters who will give voice to vulnerable communities facing environmental injustice.

Selected fellows will receive monthly stipends, access to digital investigative technologies, editorial mentorship, and will complete at least one major investigation. They'll graduate with certificates signed by Anas himself, carrying forward his legacy of fearless, evidence-based journalism into communities that need it most.

A new generation of watchdogs is about to get the tools they need to hold the powerful accountable.