Basit Jamiu, Legit.ng's Current Affairs and Politics Editor, has been selected for the 2026 Reham Al-Farra (RAF) Memorial Journalism Fellowship, a professional development programme run by the United Nations. He is the only Nigerian named to this year's cohort.
Fellowship Details and Eligibility
The RAF fellowship is open to full-time working or freelance journalists aged 22 to 35 from developing countries and economies in transition. Selection weighs an applicant's age, professional experience, coverage of the UN's work, portfolio strength and audience reach, alongside geographic diversity and gender parity.
Hosted each autumn annually at the UN Headquarters in New York, the fellowship gives selected journalists first-hand insight into the UN's work and the chance to cover the General Assembly for their news outlets. Fellows attend in-depth briefings, interview senior UN officials, and engage with journalists from around the world. This year's programme is expected to run over four weeks between September and October 2026.
Programme History and Legacy
Since it began in 1981, the fellowship has hosted 670 journalists from 168 countries, building a network of reporters who go on to produce informed coverage of global issues long after the programme ends.
The programme was mandated by UN General Assembly Resolution 35/201 in December 1980, originally as the DPI Training Programme for Broadcasters and Journalists from Developing Countries. It was renamed in 2003 in honour of Reham Al-Farra, a 29-year-old UN Public Information Officer killed in the 19 August 2003 bombing of UN headquarters in Baghdad.
Jamiu's Background and Recognition
Jamiu is an AFP-certified journalist with more than five years of experience covering current affairs and politics for Legit.ng. He holds a fellowship record that includes recognition as a 2025 CRA Grantee and 2024 Open Climate Fellow for West Africa, on top of a 2023 MTN Media Fellowship. His reporting on the toll of extreme heat on displaced women in Nigeria was recently shortlisted for a Social Impact Story of the Year award.
During the RAF fellowship, Jamiu will learn about UN operations first-hand and report back for Legit.ng, giving readers a direct line into how the UN's work connects to issues affecting Nigeria and the wider region.
