Oluwatoyosi Ogunseye

Oluwatoyosi Ogunseye, a winner of the 2014 ICFJ Knight International Journalism Award, is a veteran investigative reporter whose environmental and health stories have made a widespread impact on Nigerian communities.

Ogunseye is the youngest and first female editor in the 40-year history of Sunday Punch, a widely read Lagos newspaper. In a three-part series, she proved that residents in a well-to-do community in Lagos had high levels of toxins in their blood caused by pollutants from a nearby steel plant. The coverage prompted the government to shut down the plant, and to allow it to reopen only under strict new regulations.

Her investigation into the death of a student who fell into a pit latrine resulted in a government initiative to replace the dangerous facilities. Another of her stories revealed how a nuclear power plant was about to be built in a poor neighborhood. After her piece ran, citizens mobilized, sued the government and stopped construction.

Her story on how newborns were dying at a top Nigerian hospital due to lack of adequate facilities forced the hospital to buy more incubators for high-risk infants.

Ogunseye started her career as a reporter at the Sun newspaper in Lagos, Nigeria, where she covered metro, crime and business news. A biochemistry graduate of the University of Lagos, Ogunseye earned a post-graduate diploma in print journalism from the Nigerian Institute of Journalism and a master of science in media and communications from the Pan African University. She is currently completing a PhD in politics and international relations from the University of Leicester in England.