NatureNews reporter, Minister, others bag Farmers’ award in Abuja

A senior reporter with NatureNews, Africa’s foremost newspaper on the environment, Nneka Nwogwugwu, has bagged the coveted merit award of the Potato Farmers Association of Nigeria (POFAN).

Mrs Nwogwugwu, who holds a first class degree in Mass Communication, was recognised for her excellent news reports on agric business in Nigeria and potatoes farming in particular.

Presenting the awards at an impressive ceremony in Abuja at the weekend, National President of POFAN, Chief Daniel Okafor said the awardees are the association’s key stakeholders that were drawn from the public and private sectors, and the media

Also honoured were the Minister of State for Agriculture, Mustapha Baba Shehuri, Director General, Raw Material Research Development Council (RMRDC), Prof. Ibrahim Hussaini Doko, and Gombe State Commissioner for Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, Alhaji Magaji.

Other journalists honoured with Mrs Nwogwugwu were Mr. Collins Nnabuife, senior reporter with Nigerian Tribune, Joke Falaju, senior correspondent of The Guardian, Mr. Vincent Yusuf, senior reporter with Daily Trust, and Mr. Gabriel Ewepu of the Vanguard newspaper.

Chief Okafor urged the award winners to sustain their support for POFAN by giving positive and balanced coverage of the Association and all issues affecting the interest of its members.

He noted that POFAN was working tirelessly to contribute its quota to the achievement of nutritional and food security in Nigeria, adding that all stakeholders should join hands with POFAN to achieve the desired goal.

Chief Okafor who said the awardees should know that the award of appreciation is an application for more dedication, urged them to deepen their support to the association.

A graduate of University of Port Harcourt, Mrs Nneka Nwogwugwu worked briefly in the Public Affairs Department of University of Ilorin and later as a reporter with Daily Times where she served as head of BrandTimes section of the newspaper.

In furtherance of her passion for the environmental genre of development journalism, she joined NatureNews as a senior reporter and rose rapidly to become an assistant editor in charge of the newspaper’s South South regional office in Port Harcourt.

Mrs. Nwogwugwu expressed delight that she won for NatureNews its maiden national award in less than three years of the newspaper’s operation.

She said the award is dedicated to the readers of NatureNews at home and abroad as well as the management and staff who are committed to the newspaper’s philosophy of “the environment first”.