New sustainability fund aims to empower local journalists in conflict-hit Nigerian communities

The session spotlighted a new Local Sustainability Fund being developed to strengthen grassroots reporting, rebuild trust in local media, and protect journalists working under severe insecurity.

Experts have raised concerns about the crisis of declining local journalism across Nigeria’s conflict-affected regions, warning that communities without credible local reporting risk further democratic erosion.

The experts spoke at the Media Development Conference hosted by the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) on Tuesday.

The session spotlighted a new Local Sustainability Fund being developed to strengthen grassroots reporting, rebuild trust in local media, and protect journalists working under severe insecurity.

Akintunde Babatunde, CJID’s Director of Programmes, speaking on the panel themed “Innovating Sustainable Models for Independent Journalism in the Digital Era,” said the sustainability fund is designed to correct a long-standing structural gap in Nigerian journalism, the absence of skilled, trusted reporters within communities deeply affected by violence.

Mr Babatunde said the initiative will prioritise journalists who already live and work inside conflict zones, instead of relying on outsiders who parachute into crises without local context.

“We honestly, genuinely want people who are affected by conflict, born there, those who know what it is, to be the reporters,” he said.

Expanding on the model, he said CJID will begin by mapping conflict hotspots, auditing the work of existing freelancers, and pairing them with experienced editors in national newsrooms.

He warned that many community reporters remain unstructured, unsupported and vulnerable, a weakness that national outlets often exploit.

“We’ve seen instances where a freelance journalist records a conflict situation in their community, and it is national platforms that take the credit,” he said.

The new mechanism, he explained, will embed mentorship systems in which national organisations like Premium Times support local reporters, co-publish their work, and protect them when sensitive stories create risks.

Mr Babatunde added that the fund will connect with CJID’s Coalition so that reporters can anonymously submit dangerous whistleblowing material.

This, he said, allows national outlets to publish high-risk stories while shielding the identities of vulnerable local reporters.

“So by December, January, the call for applications for the Nigerian component will be out. But before the end of Q1, we will have the component for the Sahel and the West African subregion.”

Community Protection

The CJID director argued that lone journalists in rural conflict zones are highly exposed to retaliation from armed groups, politicians and powerful local actors.

“If they want to come after him/her, it’s easier for a bad actor to come after you as an individual. But if you have that community, then it’s easier to develop ways,” he said.

He explained that the sustainability model is inspired by CJID’s earlier Campus Journalism Programme, which successfully created a pipeline of trained young reporters who now work with global newsrooms including the BBC and AFP.

He added that the new programme aims to replicate that success at the community level, building quality local newsrooms capable of identifying early signs of political tension, food insecurity or violence before they escalate.

Speaking on media investment, Adedeji Adekunle, Programme Director, West and East Africa Media Development Investment Fund, explained how sustainability challenges are worsened when media organisations underestimate the value of their work.

Mr Adekunle argued that independent journalism can survive if outlets build business models rooted in community value, not only grants.

“I don’t think there’s a single model that is enough in our time to drive a newsroom. So what I’ve seen across the world is that everyone is looking for the mix, but there isn’t one formula that works. You need to find out the formula that works for your organisation, for your content, for your distribution network, and for your audience,” he said.

He cited examples of African newsrooms combining public-interest reporting with events, memberships, and high-quality newsletters to stay afloat.

He stressed that subscriptions alone cannot sustain any newsroom unless audiences feel the content is essential.

Speaking from a regulatory perspective, George Sarpong, Executive Secretary of Ghana’s National Media Commission, said African governments must urgently reform laws and taxation policies to support independent media.

Mr Sarpong said enabling environments must include progressive legislation, accountable regulators, due-process frameworks for harmful content, transparency in government advertising, and infrastructure investments such as broadband and electricity.

He added that states should support investigative journalism as part of their anti-corruption strategy, noting that civil society and regulators must collaborate rather than work at cross-purposes.

Strengthening democracy

The panelists agreed that rebuilding trust in journalism, especially in fragile communities, is central to safeguarding democratic stability.

They warned that without credible local reporters documenting insecurity, governance failures, climate impacts and human rights abuses, national narratives become distorted and communities become invisible.

Mr Babatunde said the Local Sustainability Fund aims to change this over the next five years by creating a new generation of locally grounded journalists who can report safely, professionally and consistently.

“We want to have a platform that tells critical reporting, evidence-led, people-centred, from communities, not just national stories,” he said.