Governance & Organisation

Governance

Our governance and organisational structure is transparent and made up of some of the most ethically sound and respected professionals in the community. 

FactCheckAfrica is supervised by an advisory board which includes professionals from diverse backgrounds who are the finest in their field. They help to hold the platform’s management focused on its core mission of amplifying the culture of truth in public discourse, public policy, and journalistic practice in the country. Their responsibilities include scrutinising the performance of management in meeting FactCheckAfrica’s agreed goals and objectives and monitoring performance.

The board is supported by a panel of editorial experts (also known as the editorial board) who are drawn from the media and have proven strong ethical backgrounds. They review the operations of the platform and promote and extend its footprints in the media. They also ensure that their day-to-day professional outputs conform to the principles of the IFCN.

Organisation

FactCheckAfrica operates with a clear workflow that properly defines the roles, responsibilities and deadlines that each team member must adhere to. The FactCheckAfrica team is set up for fact-checking and its related activities and is composed of a handful of experts who develop fact-checked stories in a structured way, reflecting the basic tenets of fact-checking. It also has a competent program management and support team which helps execute other initiatives to advance the culture of fact-checking and fact-based public discourse.

At FactCheckAfrica, we run a structured journalistic newsroom with clearly defined responsibilities for our reporters. We have transparent newsroom operations for identifying eligible claims for our teams to fact-check and a standardised methodology for researching and reporting our findings. This process ensures that each fact-check passes through a rigorous editorial process to prevent personal bias or agendas. 

This organisation is headed by a publisher, who is very vast in media development. The publisher, alongside other members of the team, drives organisational strategy and partnerships. Our editorial policies and judgements are set by the publisher and members of the editorial board. In the arrangement of things, we have an editorial portfolio such as the managing editor, associate editor, news editor as well as a copy editor. 

We currently publish in one language English and our reporters understand the nuances involved in reporting checks.

Editorial Board

Vastly experienced multimedia journalist and media career development specialist, Lekan Otufodunrin is the Executive Director of Media Career Development Network, Nigeria’s top media mentoring, coaching and counselling organisation. He was the former Managing Editor and Sunday Editor of The Nation Newspapers. At The Punch Newspaper, he also served as Group News, Political and City Editor.

A member of the Board of Studies, Faculty of Communication and Media Studies, University of Lagos and an Associate lecturer, Nigeria Institute of Journalism, Lagos, Otufodunrin, holds a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degrees in Mass Communication.
He is a fellow of Thomson Foundation, UK, Poynter Institute, Florida, USA, Africa Leadership Initiative (ALI) Media Programme and Solutions Journalism Africa.

His books include Purpose-Driven Journalism, Excelling in Journalism, Reporter Extraordinaire, Wisdom for Journalists, Media Career Checklist, Journalism of My Life, Our Punch Years and Dateline Cardiff.

Lekan Otufodunrin

Board Member

Rasheed Ademola Adebiyi, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Mass Communication at Fountain University, Osogbo, Nigeria, and Acting Director of the University’s Centre for Research, Innovation and Technology.

His expertise spans information integrity, information disorder, strategic communication, media innovation and solutions journalism. He consults for local and international NGOs on media polarisation and information integrity.

He is Co-Founder/Editor-in-Chief of Abito Citta and Team Lead of its Media Innovation Lab, where he leads research and interventions on media reportage, information pollution and media innovation.

He is a member of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR), and African Council for Communication Education (ACCE).

Rasheed Ademola Adebiyi

Board Member

Sanni Alausa-Issa is a communications specialist and social impact professional with experience in governance, civic engagement, digital rights and responsible technology. As Communications Director at Brain Builders Youth Development Initiative (BBYDI), he leads the organisation’s communications strategy and helps turn policy, research and programme outcomes into accessible public information. His work supports initiatives that promote accountable governance, youth participation, digital inclusion and the protection of civic freedoms across Nigeria.

Sanni has contributed to campaigns and programmes that help citizens understand public institutions, participate in democratic processes and demand accountability from elected officials. He also works on AI literacy and technology-facilitated gender-based violence prevention, with a focus on how emerging technologies affect civic participation, safety and access to information. His core interest is using communication to connect citizens with the knowledge and tools they need to engage government and influence decisions that affect their communities.

Sanni Alausa-Issa

Board Member

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