PREMIUM TIMES investigative journalists Oladeinde Olawoyin and Folashade Ogunrinde stood out on Wednesday at the 2026 African Investigative Journalist of the Year Award for their investigation into lead poisoning linked to battery recycling in Nigeria.
The journalists, who emerged as first runners-up, were recognised at the awards gala held on Wednesday in Nairobi, Kenya, during the 2026 African Investigative Journalism Conference (AIJC).
The award, organised by the Wits Centre for Journalism and supported by Absa Africa, recognises outstanding investigative journalism across the continent, particularly reporting that exposes wrongdoing, promotes accountability and serves the public interest.
The recognition marks a significant milestone for Nigerian journalism, with Mr Olawoyin and Ms Ogunrinde becoming the first Nigerian journalists to reach the top three of the African Investigative Journalist of the Year Award. Their emergence as first runners-up also gives Nigeria its first recorded podium finish in the competition, which is in its fourth year.
Their investigation, titled ‘Lead in Their Blood: Poor oversight, regulatory failure expose Nigerians to slow death from battery recycling,’ which is the second installment of a two-part series, was produced in collaboration with The Examination.
The first part, titled, ‘Lead In Their Blood: How Battery Recyclers Are Poisoning Nigerians,’ examined the widespread exposure of residents and workers in Ogijo, a community on the Lagos-Ogun border, to lead pollution from battery recycling factories.
Together, the two parts examined the health and environmental consequences of lead-acid battery on residents and workers.
The report documented the health risks, including dangerously elevated blood-lead levels among children, women and factory workers, and the failure of regulatory authorities to adequately protect the community.
To establish the extent of the contamination, the journalists commissioned independent blood-lead tests involving 70 residents, alongside soil and air-quality sampling around the factories.
The findings showed that 50 of the 70 people tested had blood-lead levels above the recommended threshold of five micrograms per decilitre. All 14 workers tested also recorded elevated lead levels, while more than half of the children examined had concerning levels of exposure.
Soil samples collected around the factories also revealed extensive contamination, with some recording lead concentrations far above levels considered safe.
The reporting further traced the supply chain through which recycled lead from Nigerian factories entered international markets and the global automotive industry.
The investigation also documented regulatory failures that allowed the factories to continue operating despite the health risks to surrounding communities. It examined the role of environmental agencies and the international buyers of recycled lead.
Following the publication, the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) shut down battery recycling facilities in Ogijo over environmental concerns. The Ogun State Government also announced measures to address the pollution, including plans for blood-lead testing among residents.
The House of Representatives subsequently called for an investigation into the lead-poisoning concerns and demanded an emergency response.
Read about the authors of the winning report below.
Oladeinde Olawoyin
Mr Olawoyin is a multi-award-winning journalist with extensive experience covering the oil and gas industry, business, capital markets, finance, agriculture, power, maritime, economic development, and public policy. Last October, he was a fellow in the International Visitors’ Leadership Program (IVLP) for professional leaders in Trade, Finance, and Development, alongside 21 other participants. The US Government supported the programme.
In October 2022, Mr Olawoyin was named Business Reporter of the Year at the West African Media Excellence Awards (WAMECA) in Accra, Ghana. In the same year, he was also a finalist at both the DAME and PwC Awards held in Lagos. In 2020, he was selected as a finalist among journalists from across Africa at the Sanlam Awards for Excellence in Financial Journalism in South Africa.
He was among the 12 journalists worldwide shortlisted for the Thomson Foundation Young Journalist Award in 2019. That same year, he won the Capital Market Reporter of the Year category at the PwC Awards for Excellence in Financial Journalism. He was also among the three winners of the African Media Development Foundation (AMDF) Awards held in Kaduna.
Folashade Ogunrinde
Ms Ogunrinde is an award-winning Nigerian investigative journalist with Premium Times. She won the Solid Minerals Reporting category at the 2025 Diamond Awards for Media Excellence (DAME) and the Premium Times Story of the Year awards in 2024 and 2025.
Her other recognitions include the West Africa Media Excellence Awards (WAMECA), the Wole Soyinka Award for Investigative Journalism, the PwC Nigeria Media Excellence Awards and the Report Women Female Reporters Leadership Programme Story Project Awards. She was also a finalist for the Norbert Zongo African Prize for Investigative Journalism.
With over a decade of experience, Folashade reports on governance, accountability, human rights, gender equality and the extractive sector, with a particular focus on stories affecting marginalised communities. She is a fellow of the Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN) and the Female Reporters Leadership Programme (FRLP). She is also passionate about mentoring young journalists and advancing public-interest journalism.
READ ALSO: PREMIUM TIMES journalists, others named finalists of African Investigative Journalism Awards
African Investigative Journalist of the Year Award winner
The award was won by Jeff Wicks of South Africa’s News24 for his investigation, Nine Lives: King Cat and His Tender Empire, which examined the influence of businessman Vusi Matlala over police contracts and his connections with senior police officials.
Naipanoi Lepapa of Kenya, who collaborated with Julia Lindblom of Göteborgs-Posten and Ahmed Abdigadir of Svenska Dagbladet on Your Eyes, Their Data, emerged second runners-up.
The investigation examined how footage captured by Meta’s AI-powered Ray-Ban smart glasses, including sensitive personal recordings, was sent to data annotators in Nairobi for labelling, raising concerns about privacy, consent and workers’ protection.
The 2026 edition attracted more than 200 entries from across Africa, with the finalists selected by a panel of experienced investigative journalists.
The African Investigative Journalist of the Year Award is organised by the Wits Centre for Journalism and supported by Absa Africa. It is in its fourth year and recognises investigative reporting that exposes wrongdoing and drives public-interest impact across the continent.
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