ICFJ Voices: Justina Asishana, Driving Impact Through Integrity and Coalition

By: Sarah Holehouse |07/16/2024

This year, ICFJ is celebrating our 40th anniversary and our long history of supporting journalists. Throughout the year, we will be showcasing network members from around the world.

For Justina Asishana, journalism is about integrity and impact. From documenting the dangerous decline in Nigeria's health system to reporting directly from internally displaced person's camps in the midst of the pandemic, she is meticulous and people-focused in her investigations and has a proven record of influence.

Asishana is an investigative journalist and the Niger State Correspondent at The Nation newspaper in Nigeria. She is a fellow with the Africa Women Journalism Project (AWJP), founded by ICFJ Knight Fellow Catherine Gicheru. In 2022, Asishana also participated in ICFJ's Global Nutrition and Food Security Reporting Fellowship.

In her data-driven investigative reporting, she is primarily concerned with health, agriculture, safety, human rights and development - reporting which has subsequently resulted in major government action and social progress. Just this year, a story she produced on the loss of highly-skilled healthcare professionals in Niger State caused the governor to expedite hiring processes for qualified professionals and sign employment agreements with medical students in Nigeria and abroad.

Here's what Asishana had to say.

This interview has been edited slightly.

How have you been involved with the Africa Women Journalism Project over the years?
I began on the Africa Women Journalism Project in 2020 as a fellow with its pioneer Reporting on the Pandemic Fellowship, where I reported on how the COVID-19 pandemic affected various spheres of living. I wrote on how internally displaced persons (IDPs) were coping with the pandemic in the IDP camps in Niger State, how the Niger State government tried to bridge the digital gap between school children in the urban and rural areas during the pandemic, how the pandemic increased malnutrition, and how women who have lost their means of livelihood are coping to survive. Today, I continue to report on the impacts of the pandemic, through AWJP's Aftershocks Data Fellowship.

What was the biggest outcome from your participation in the Africa Women Journalism Project? In other words, how has being part of AWJP helped you most?
Being part of AWJP has helped me in writing more data-oriented reports. That is, there is rarely a report that I write where I do not infuse data in one way or the other. It has also helped in fine-tuning my writings. Now, I write with a lot of questions I feel the editors will need answered. Being part of AWJP has also helped me with building a network of female journalists with large resources and references.

This time last year you produced a story, Brain Drain: Niger's health system on crutches, which documented the loss of highly-skilled healthcare professionals in Nigeria, and particularly in Niger State. What impact did this investigation spark?
I wrote the report on brain drain because I kept receiving reports of patients who went to the hospitals and could not be attended to because there was no doctor or other health personnel to attend to them. I decided to dig deeper and found out that those in the medical sector are leaving the country in droves, which is gradually crippling the health sector.

After the report, which came immediately after the elections and with a new government in power, the state implemented a new directive to waive employment procedures for qualified doctors and other healthcare workers - lifting an embargo on employment across ministries, departments, and agencies that had been in practice in the past eight years. The state governor acknowledged the severe impact the dearth of healthcare workers has had on efficient service delivery in the healthcare sector.

In April 2024, the state government employed 1,000 health workers in the state civil service to address the shortage of health personnel in hospitals and primary healthcare centers across the state, while opening up recruitment for more health workers. In June 2024, the state government signed employment bond agreements with 60 medical students who are at the clinical stage in various health tertiary instructions across the country with the view of absorbing them into the state civil service after their schooling.

How did being part of AWJP help you with this reporting?
Being part of the AWJP has taught me to look deeper and with more insight into issues that are affecting us, and use it to develop a broader perspective. The AWJP helped me by providing data, especially of health workers who had left the shores of Nigeria, as the data was difficult for me to get, so the resources in AWJP helped me have a more enlightened story with better data. Also, the beautiful visualizations were done by the AWJP team.

Beyond your brain drain story, what are you currently working on - or what do you want to work on - that you're excited about?
I am currently working on a report about those psychologically affected by insecurity and what is being done to help reduce the trauma and psychological scars these victims have faced.

I work in Niger State, which is one of the states affected by insecurity in the country, and I am very intentional in reporting on underreported issues about the victims and affected communities. This is because these issues are not ones that are readily covered by journalists, but they are real and need to be highlighted so that the government will know that their solutions of providing food or moving people to IDP camps are not sufficient. Going forward, I hope to understand more of what affects these groups of vulnerable people and report on them more. I also would like to work more on issues affecting people with disabilities in Nigeria and Niger State. I did a report on it earlier this year, and the response the report gathered was eye-opening.

Recently, you successfully defended yourself in a defamation case filed against you and your newsroom by the Executive Chairman of the Niger State Internal Revenue Service for your story, "Flood of financial misappropriation hits Niger Revenue Service." Could you share more about this, as well as what the decision means to you?
The chairman of the board took me and my organization, The Nation newspaper, to court after the report had been published, claiming that it was libelous and damaged his reputation. The case began in full in 2023 and the ruling was given in May 2024. It was a tedious process because there were times I wanted to do something but would be unable to because I had to be in court. It was also a question on the integrity of my report. Thankfully, the ruling in my favor was given in May 2024 and it was a relief because I could undertake more field work and do more things than focusing on a case. It also reflected that the report was factual and not libelous, as claimed by the chairman. The decision further stamped my journalistic integrity and gave me the hope that journalists can still be justified in the court.

What difficulties do journalists in your region, especially women journalists, face? Are these challenges you have encountered yourself?
Journalists in Nigeria, particularly women, encounter sexual harassment, cyber trolling and online threats. There are also safety risks, especially when the female journalist is working in hostile environments, as well as lack of funding, mental health impacts and marital issues due to the demand of female journalists' careers.

I have encountered cyber trolling and online threats. There are always safety risks, especially as I often go to insecurity-prone areas, but I try to do my best to adopt some safety measures. I have also encountered lack of funding to pursue some reports that I really want to do, as funding and grants are not readily available. This is why I appreciate the AWJP, because I am able to carry out some reports that I want to do. I also experience mental health impacts, as I often hear the traumatic experiences of people and feel emotionally weighed down.

There was a time that I covered an agency that deals with molestation, harassment and rape cases, and the stories of the victims and even the perpetrators made me so paranoid that when I would see any female child following a man I would try to ask questions like who she is to him and what he is doing with her. So, I had to reduce my coverage of the agency to get my emotional state back on balance. But, because I live in Minna, which is not a big city, I couldn't get psychological help, so I had to devise my own mechanism to achieve a mental balance.

What's one piece of advice you'd give to an aspiring journalist?
I would tell them not to give up. Everyone says journalism is a thankless job. You are attacked and trolled when the audience feels you wrote something that is not favorable to them and ignored when the report favors them. So, I would urge them to track their impact, which will give them satisfaction in the job. I would also urge them to form a strong network with other journalists of like-minds who can always come through for them and support them no matter what. Another important piece of advice I would give them is to seek out and get mentors, and choose to be mentored. Let them accept when they make mistakes and ensure that in every investigation they undertake, they are factual and have evidence to back up their claims.

Is there anything else you would like to add?
I have an initiative, the Media Mentors Network, that trains and mentors journalists. The network also organizes a forum for female journalists in Niger State to learn, relearn and unlearn annually. The forum is called the Niger Women in the Media Summit. I had the second summit last year and I am working toward the third summit, which will be held in the last quarter of this year. I am hoping to get partners and collaborators for this year's summit. Any potential partners can reach out to the Media Mentors Network by email at [email protected].