Thomson Reuters Foundation has named the Online Editor of The New Diplomat, ‘Dotun Akintomide among the privileged African journalists to participate at its 2019 Wealth of Nations programme on reporting illicit finance in Africa.
Having produced groundbreaking works as an investigative journalist, Akintomide will be deploying the knowledge acquired through the programme to unravel the Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) in Africa, concentrating on Nigeria — the biggest loser to IFFs on the continent.
Worried over how much Africa had lost to IFFs and tax evasion spanning several decades, the foundation noted that, “this is becoming a major issue as citizens realise that – if this money was retained – it could be spent on a range of priorities such as schools and health services.”
Despite being an engineering graduate of Petroleum Training Institute (PTI), Delta State, Akintomide’s journalism career speaks volumes in professional terms. Though, he has always shown interest in sparking positive social change through his writings, until he became enraged with several vices and injustice on campus, starting out as a campus journalist never caught his fancy.
With six years of professional practice, he had metamorphosed from being a campus journalist with THE NATION newspaper to Business Correspondent at Nigerian NewsDirect and now, the Online Editor at The New Diplomat.
The various media trainings and fellowships he participated in over the years, had proven handy in his journalism journey. He has participated at special schemes facilitated and supported by two of Nigeria’s investigative journalism centres — Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) and the Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism (PTCIJ).
In January 2018, Akintomide’s investigative work exposing the covert tobacco deals and child labour practices on Nigerian tobacco fields was referenced by The New York Times.
Speaking on the motivation for his works, he said: “often times, the motivation for my work comes from the desire to live in a world filled with dignity for the human life.
“A world where ‘ordinary people’ would be banished from our lexicon, for the generality of the human race would have imbibed and demonstrated the ideals of unbridled love. Thus, leaving no room for the usage of such demeaning cliches — commoners, less privileged in day-to-day conversations.”
