BRIDJE Fellows
Hauwa Saleh Abubakar
Hauwa Saleh Abubakar is a writer, poet and journalist. She covers stories on gender, conflict, health, and development. She produces a documentary series on rare diseases, chronic illnesses and disabilities in Nigeria. Her works have appeared in Lolwe, Ake Review, Agbowo, A Long House and more.
Hauwa is the author of Undone, a poetry Chapbook in the 2025 New Generation African Poets Bookset Series and is the co-founder of 'Chronically Speaking,' a community for sick and disabled Nigerians. She considers herself an accidental lawyer and aim to make people feel 'something' with her work.
Why BRIDJEHauwa brings a powerful storytelling perspective to the fellowship, using journalism and creative expression to connect audiences with complex social issues and create space for greater understanding and empathy.
Mohammed Dahiru Lawal
Mohammed Dahiru Lawal is a Nigerian journalist, media strategist, information integrity expert, and trainer. His work sits at the intersection of fact-checking, strategic communication, artificial intelligence, and digital media, with a growing focus on energy and climate reporting. He is also an OSINT specialist and investigative journalist who has trained journalists across Africa in digital verification.
A serial award-winning journalist, Dahiru is a 2023 US Department of State Mandela Washington Fellow, a member of the African Union Development Agency's PIDA Journalists Network and the Center for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) Best OSINT Practitioner (Anglophone West Africa, 2025).
Okechukwu Omeire
Okechukwu “Okey” Omeire is a West Africa Producer with Deutsche Welle (DW), based in Lagos, Nigeria. His reporting focuses on climate, energy, development, governance, and public-interest issues across West Africa. He has covered topics including renewable energy, climate adaptation, urban resilience, and environmental sustainability.
Okey is also the creator of Narrative Architecture, a framework for exploring how people make sense of complex realities, and is developing Lagos Speaks, a narrative journalism project rooted in observation and discovery.
Why BRIDJE?Okey brings to the fellowship a strong combination of broadcast journalism, climate and energy reporting, digital media, and audio storytelling. Through his work, he seeks to make important issues more accessible, engaging, and human-centred.
Sani Modibbo
Sani Modibbo is an accountability and development journalist whose work spans investigative digital reporting, broadcast journalism, open-source intelligence, digital verification, and data-informed analysis.
As a 2024 U-Monitor Fellow with UDEME by the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development, he tracked and reported on more than 25 government-funded projects. His investigations contributed to reports published by Premium Times and Daily Trust on failed energy and education infrastructure.
Why BRIDJE?Sani brings a strong accountability lens to the fellowship, combining investigative journalism, digital verification, data, and multimedia storytelling to examine development outcomes and public institutions.
Sani Muhammad
Sani Saidu Muhammad is a Nigerian climate and development journalist, researcher, and communications professional whose work focuses on climate change, energy transition, environmental governance, agriculture, and the human stories behind public policy.
Sani is a Fellow of UKCEH and SOAS, the Africa-China Reporting Project at Wits University, the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID), the Network of Impact Evaluation Researchers in Africa (NIERA), and the African Research and Impact Network (ARIN).
As the Founder of Zamani Impact Lab, he supports research, innovation, and evidence-driven solutions for sustainable development across Africa.
Why BRIDJE?Nigeria wants to become Africa’s solar manufacturing hub and has mooted a ban on solar panel imports to boost local manufacturing. This goal could diversify its economy away from oil, create jobs for youth and deliver a just transition. But China’s dominance and production capacity pose challenges.
Why BRIDJEDahiru joins the fellowship with a commitment to advancing research-driven and democratised journalism on energy across West Africa, drawing on his expertise in investigative journalism, digital innovation, and information integrity.
Fellow Projects
The BRIDJE Fellowship is implemented by Surge Africa in partnership with the University of Birmingham, creating opportunities for journalists to co-create compelling stories with researchers from the university. The fellowship supports journalists and media professionals in making complex issues more accessible, relevant, and connected to the realities of communities across West Africa.
Through the fellowship, fellows will strengthen their reporting, expand their professional networks, and contribute to a more informed public conversation on the issues shaping the region.