Daily Trust’s Faruk Shuaibu wins 2025 W/Africa Award
A business reporter with Daily Trust Newspaper, Faruk Shuaibu, was among the journalists honoured at the West Africa Media Excellence Conference and Awards (WAMECA) 2025. Shuaibu, who emerged as a winner, was nominated among 26 finalists for the award ceremony with an entry “Why Nigerians Ditched the eNaira” under the Digital Public Infrastructure/Digital Public Goods […]
A business reporter with Daily Trust Newspaper, Faruk Shuaibu, was among the journalists honoured at the West Africa Media Excellence Conference and Awards (WAMECA) 2025.
Shuaibu, who emerged as a winner, was nominated among 26 finalists for the award ceremony with an entry “Why Nigerians Ditched the eNaira” under the Digital Public Infrastructure/Digital Public Goods Reporting category.
The category highlights how governments in Africa are using digital infrastructures to better the lives of their citizens.
Catherine Gicheru, a grand jury for WAMECA, said the story was selected as “the team at the Daily Trust exposed how Nigeria’s bold experiment with digital currency stumbled. Through sharp reporting and human stories, they revealed the disparate between innovation and reality, showing how poor communication, technical failures, and lost confidence turned a national milestone into a cautionary tale.”
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“It is more than a technology story. It is a story about trust, about governance, and inclusion. This story reminded us that true digital transformation isn’t about apps or platforms. It’s about people. Congratulations to the Daily Trust team, and especially the journalists who were involved in this story because of their work, they made the winners of the Digital Public Infrastructure category.”
In a statement earlier, MFWA said it received 793 entries this year and were submitted by journalists from over 600 media outlets across 15 West African countries.
It said Nigeria emerged as the country with the highest number of submissions (335 entries), comprising 42% of the total.
Ghana followed with 101 entries, while Burkina Faso submitted 92 entries. 21 entries were received from Mali, while Niger recorded 4 entries. The remaining 10 countries in the subregion recorded a total of 230 entries.
“This overwhelming response marks a strong return for West Africa’s biggest and most prestigious journalism event after a break in 2024. The call for entries, which opened on April 15, invited submissions of journalistic works published between January 1 and December 31, 2024. Entries were received across nine award categories, including Human Rights Reporting, Environmental Reporting, Investigative Journalism, Women Empowerment Reporting, and Digital Public Infrastructure/Digital Public Goods Reporting. Others include Anti-Corruption, Extractive sector, Telecoms & ICT, and Illicit Financial Flows.”