The Climate Reporting Gap Fellowship Workshop in Abuja
The Climate Reporting Gap Fellowship aims to strengthen climate and energy transition journalism in Nigeria at a critical moment. Six Nigerian journalists were selected at the end of 2025, to take part in a comprehensive training programme and to deliver engaging multimedia pieces that makes energy reporting accessible to local communities as well as global audiences.
The Fellowship provides funding, mentoring, editorial support and in-depth training to the participants, as they develop their reporting skills. The programme is a collaboration between One World Media and Surge Africa, as part of the Climate Reporting Gap Initiative.
On 29-30 January, the 6 Fellows gathered for an in-person training in Abuja, Nigeria. The workshops were designed for developing Fellows’ skills in data-driven analysis, creative storytelling, and community-centred reporting. Along with networking sessions and socials, the Fellows attended interactive workshops on a variety of topics.
The training started with a deep-dive on energy transition narrative, with climate expert Isaac Botti. The session explored the technical and financial roadmaps for Nigeria to achieve Net Zero by 2060, while the participants analysed the socio-economic implications of the transition.
“I’ve been able to see the mix between Nigeria’s current realities, our debt and our actual capacity to achieve just energy transition.” Vivian Chime, Fellow
Data Analyst Khadija Kareem led a workshop on data journalism, emphasising why numbers are essential to credible and impactful climate storytelling. Khadija covered different types of climate data, how to find reliable sources, and how to interpret climate statistics without overstating trends or drawing weak conclusions. The fellows expressed acquiring a better understanding on how to identify, access, and apply relevant datasets to strengthen evidence-based climate stories.
On the second day, the Fellows worked with mobile journalism and AI media trainer, Titilope Olayemi, exploring strategic multimedia storytelling for climate journalism using mobile-first tools. The session focused on ethical and human-centered reporting, highlighting the importance of caring for the people sharing their stories. Through practical exercises and real climate journalism examples, the Fellows had a chance to practice film and photography tips by using their mobile phones, and were equipped with essential protocols for field reporting.
The workshops wrapped up with conversations with practitioners in the field. Investigative journalist Bukola Adebayo shared insights about the making of her short documentary “The unexpected rise of solar power in Nigeria” for Context News by Thomson Reuters Foundation. She shared valuable tips on how to best prepare for video shoots, and how to tell stories on complex issues such as energy transition in a visually accessible way.
Illustrator and artist Oghosa Ebengho, creator of the “Yellow Sunset” project, shared his experience making the animated short documentary. Oghosa’s honest and generous insights demystified the process of including illustrations and animation in non-fiction storytelling.
The fellows had the chance to ask them questions in a virtual Q&A session. The conversation addressed practical issues such as budgeting for multimedia projects, sourcing and managing collaborators such as animators or editors, and how to frame stories to make them more appealing to a broader audience.
”The sessions opened my eyes to see beyond the story I am working on. I now have a mindset to make my story more comprehensive for my audience.” Manasseh Mbachii, Fellow
The Climate Reporting Gap Fellowship will continue with online workshops and one-to-one mentoring, while the journalists get ready for field reporting and to turn their stories into creative multimedia pieces.