By Yusuf Olukokun
Precious Ewuji, a 200-level student from the Department of Education and English Language, and Faith Omoniyi, a 400-level Computer Science student, have been selected for the 2022/2023 African Liberty Writing Fellowship organised by Africa for Liberty.
Ewuji and Omoniyi, who are both members of the Union of Campus Journalists, Federal University Oye-Ekiti, were selected alongside 28 other fellows in Africa for the fellowship.
African Liberty Writing Fellowship was founded in 2007 as the single project of CATO Institute and IMANI Africa which later metamorphosed to ATLAS Network. The writing fellowship is an arena for young African people to promote the peace and freedom of Africa and Africans at large.
The fellowship is designed to empower young Africans who are passionately interested in academia, media, opinion writing, and policy-making-related careers in the continent – Africa as a whole.
About 1,500 Africans applied for the 2022/2023 African Liberty Writing Fellowship; the selection was in two rounds. At the first round of selection, 60 people were selected for a 5-week online rigorous training on opinion writing and were given assessments. In the second round, 35 people out of the 60 people got shortlisted and 30 were finally selected for the fellowship.
Omoniyi, who also doubles as the Creative Designer of UCJ FUOYE explained the 5-week training was very demanding and tedious.
“What made it hard was that we were to summarise our first 4-weeks assessments in 150 words each. You must be careful of the editing so you don’t lose important keywords. The last week of the training was also tough, as we were told to pick publications and write our opinion pieces on them. I’m glad I made it through,” Omoniyi added.
African Liberty Writing Fellowship was perfectly established to train young individuals in writing pieces on the freedom and peace of Africans while also ensuring the works of young Africans are internationally known.
Speaking with UCJ FUOYE, Ewuji, the General Secretary of the Union revealed that she got the mail very late and had already lost hope of participating in the 5-week training. She, however, said she was able to meet up with her colleagues even after the first week’s assessment.
“I am also excited about what I’ll be doing during the fellowship — writing good analysis in the policy, liberty, and academic sector. Of course, I look forward to publishing my works on International platforms too with editorial support,” she concluded.
Throughout the year of fellowship — 2022/2023, African Liberty Writing Fellowship will give monthly stipends to its participants to commemorate the efforts of young Africans pushing for maximum peace and freedom in the continent.
