World Press Freedom Day 2018

Oluwatoyosi Ogunseye joined the BBC in January  2018 as Head of West Africa. She has over 15 years’ experience as an investigative journalist.  In her new role, she manages BBC Afrique, Hausa, Igbo, Pidgin and Yoruba.  Ogunseye was the first female editor in the 40-year history of Punch Newspaper, Nigeria’s most widely read newspaper. Ogunseye, who is on the board of the World Editors Forum, has received several recognitions and won over 30 awards.

She is the winner of the Presidential Precinct Inaugural Young Leader Award, 2016, United States which she received alongside Secretary Madeline Albright. Ogunseye is a 2014 Laureate of the African Women in News Leadership Award given by the World Association of Newspapers.

She won journalism’s premier prize in 2014: The Knight International Journalism Award, making her the first Nigerian journalist to win the global award.

A 2014 Fellow of President Barack Obama’s Young African Leaders Initiative, she is an advocate for empowerment of young persons and gives self development talks locally and internationally. 

She holds a BSc in Biochemistry from the University of Lagos, a Pgd in Print Journalism from the Nigerian Institute of Journalism, a MSc in Media and Communication from the Pan-Atlantic University and she’s currently studying for a PhD in Politics and International Relations at the University of Leicester, UK.