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Stella Omona
Executive Director of the Platform to Protect Whistleblowers in Africa (PPLAAF), Jimmy Kande, has presented awards to winners of the 2026 World Whistleblower Day Art and Media Competition, organized through a partnership between PPLAAF and Step Up Nigeria.
The award ceremony, held in Abuja, celebrated outstanding young creatives who used various artistic mediums to promote whistleblowing, integrity, accountability, and stronger legal protection for whistleblowers.
The competition attracted 172 entries from participants across 31 states of the federation, comprising 111 male and 61 female contestants.
Entries spanned categories including skits, music, poetry, visual arts, and writing.
The winners were announced as follows:
Skit Category: Gilbert Owan – The Pledge
Music Category; Akinfolarin Jeremiah Damilola – Voice Against Silence
Poetry and Spoken Words; Anita Chigbomkpa Nwokoji.
On The 7th Floor
Art Category: Moses Idowu Sodipo – The Veil of Governance
Written Article Category: Oguche Gabriel Onuche; In A World of Loud Evil, Silence is Permission.
Speaking at the event, Kande emphasized the crucial role of art and media in advancing anti-corruption advocacy and whistleblower protection.
He noted that creative expression remains a powerful and accessible tool for raising public awareness and inspiring action.
The awards ceremony followed a media roundtable and conference organized by Step Up Nigeria to commemorate World Whistleblower Day.
Step Up Nigeria’s Director of Programmes, Feranmi Iyanda, described the competition as evidence of growing youth engagement in issues of accountability and transparency. She announced that each winner would receive a cash prize of ₦500,000 and be inducted into the inaugural cohort of World Whistleblower Day Fellows.
According to Iyanda, the fellowship programme will provide mentorship opportunities for future participants and help sustain advocacy efforts beyond the competition.
She also stressed that whistleblowing extends beyond exposing corruption to include reporting concerns related to public safety, security, environmental issues, and other matters of public interest.
Communications Manager of Step Up Nigeria, Shekwogaza Kure, said the initiative was designed to amplify young voices and encourage meaningful conversations on transparency, accountability, and stronger legal safeguards for whistleblowers.
“The competition gave young Nigerians an opportunity to use creativity as a tool for advocacy,” Kure said.
He further disclosed that Step Up Nigeria would release two special podcast episodes to mark World Whistleblower Day, featuring experts and competition winners discussing whistleblowing and accountability.
Representing the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, Suleiman Achebe highlighted the Commission’s efforts to promote integrity among young Nigerians through student anti-corruption clubs in secondary schools and the Student Anti-Corruption Vanguard initiative in tertiary institutions.
“Part of the bigger definition of integrity is doing the right thing even when nobody is watching,” Achebe stated.
The award recipients expressed appreciation to the organizers, noting that the competition not only recognized their talents but also strengthened their commitment to using creativity to drive social change, accountability, and responsible citizenship.