In December 2020, African Women in Media (AWiM), in partnership with the African Union (AU), International Labour Migration (ILO) and International Organization for Migration (IOM) held the Labour Migration Media Awards ceremony. Afeez Hanafi won the the top spot in the Intra-Africa Migration category.
In this interview with AWiMNews, Hanafi discusses his experiences as a journalist and the story that won the prize.
1. Please introduce yourself
My name is Afeez Hanafi, a Nigerian and Lagos-based journalist. I was born on February 26, 1988 in Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria’s North-Central. I grew up and had my primary and secondary school education in the state capital (Ilorin). I studied English at the University of Ilorin and taught it in secondary schools for three years. I began my journalism career in 2014 after bagging a second degree in English from the same institution. As a development journalist, I report on a range of areas, including communities, crime, human/civil rights, economy and environment. I have received local and international awards on these beats and attended media training as well as conferences across the subjects over the years.
2. What was your first career choice and what inspired you to go into journalism?
I had wanted to be a lecturer. I never had plans to go into journalism until the tail end of my Master’s. I read about how good journalism brought about social change, having positive impacts on people and policy-making. I felt such calling would give me more opportunities to impact humanity. I was not wrong!
3. Please tell us a little about the story that won the award and what was your inspiration going into it?
Titled “Xenophobia: Our classmates bully, tell us to go back to our country — Nigerian pupil,” the story brings to fore the height of discrimination by fellow Africans. It is a foray into endemic racism even among people with common geographical and historical backgrounds. The report captures the dehumanising encounters of Nigerians, especially children, in South Africa on the heels of xenophobia. It documents the migrant life of children and their parents filled with bile, rejection and hatred amid the attendant abuse of their rights and wanton destruction of means of livelihood. I was curious to have first-hand information from South African returnees away from an avalanche of claims that flooded the Internet during the xenophobic attacks.
4. What is the best thing about the story and what is the most difficult thing?
For me, the best thing about the story is its X-raying of the gruelling hostilities many schoolchildren from Nigeria and other African countries suffered in the hands of their South African classmates. As such, the report exposes the sad situation of racism in the former apartheid country and how it is degenerating into a generational malaise. The story gives a bigger picture of a pressing social issue relevant authorities — government and other stakeholders — need to address urgently. The most difficult thing about the story is the challenge I had getting it done. I had to stay awake all the night of September 12, 2019, waiting for the arrival of the migrants whose flight was delayed. It also took a great deal of persuasion to get most of the returnees to open up on their experiences.
5. What do you think is the one main form of support women journalists in your region need in order to produce similar stories?
There is a need for trust in the capacity of women journalists. More often than not, many editors consider such an assignment to be tough and therefore it’s meant for men. I could recall that there were very few female colleagues with me at the Lagos airport that day, waiting for the returnees. By the time night fell, I could barely see any of them around. Some, who are parents, had to go home to attend to their families. In this regard, women journalists, especially the married ones, need huge support from their spouses and should be encouraged by their employers.
6. What advice would you give to journalists looking to explore the themes you are looking at in their own work?
My major advice is that they should be steadfast on the ethics of the job. The primary role of a journalist is to look at issues dispassionately, reporting the good, the bad and the ugly as the case may be. They should not have a mindset towards a story and allow it slant their reportage. For instance, my curiosity in this story was to be acquainted with the experiences of Nigerian children in South Africa. And even though most of them painted nasty memories, I equally reported the few ones who made kind remarks about their South African classmates and teachers. Also, effective language use is a powerful tool in storytelling. Journalists need to be creative in presenting people’s feelings in the best of ways. A good story can be marred by poor delivery occasioned by language.
