THISDAY’s Blessing Ibunge Wins NCDMB’s Oil and Gas Print Reporter of the Year Award

THISDAY Newspaper’s Port Harcourt correspondent, Blessing Ibunge, has won the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) Prize for Oil and Gas Print Reporter of the Year at the 13th edition of the Bayelsa Media Awards (BMA), held in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.

Ibunge emerged winner in the category in recognition of her reporting on the oil and gas sector in the Niger Delta.

She received a cash prize of N1 million and a brand-new laptop, alongside other winners in NCDMB-sponsored categories.

The awards ceremony attracted media professionals from across the Niger Delta, including Rivers, Cross River, Imo, Akwa Ibom, Edo and Delta states, and coincided with activities marking the 30th anniversary of Bayelsa State’s creation.

Other winners in the NCDMB-sponsored categories were Joseph Kunde of TVC, Yenagoa, who won the Prize for Niger Delta Region’s Report on Economy, and Ebitimi Zitimiyola of NTA, Yenagoa, who clinched the Oil and Gas Broadcast Reporter of the Year award. Both received N1 million and a laptop each.

Speaking at the event, the Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Mr. Felix Ogbe, represented by the Board’s Manager, Government Relations, Mr. Teddy Bai, reaffirmed the agency’s commitment to supporting initiatives that promote journalistic excellence.

Ogbe highlighted the media’s contribution to the establishment, growth and visibility of the Board, noting its critical role in shaping public discourse, promoting accountability and communicating development initiatives.

He also commended the organisers of the Bayelsa Media Awards for sustaining a platform that recognises outstanding contributions to journalism.

In his remarks, the Chairman of the Bayelsa Media Awards, Mr. Victor Binawari, said the initiative was established to recognise media practitioners who devote their professional skills to promoting individuals, businesses and institutions but often receive little recognition themselves.

“We started because we noticed that media professionals will do so well to promote people, promote politicians, promote businesses and don’t get the opportunity to be promoted,” Binawari said.

He said the awards had grown beyond Bayelsa to become a regional platform attracting journalists from across the Niger Delta, adding that the competition had encouraged professionalism and healthy rivalry among practitioners.

Binawari also praised NCDMB for supporting the awards, noting that winners in its three categories would each receive N1 million and a brand-new laptop.

Delivering the keynote address on behalf of the Bayelsa State Government, the Commissioner for Youth Development, Mr. Alfred Nimizigha, said the media had performed creditably in promoting accountability, disseminating information and scrutinising government policies and programmes.

He urged journalists to sustain professionalism while embracing digital tools, data analysis, fact-checking and investigative reporting to strengthen public accountability and contribute to societal development.

Also speaking, the Chairman of BMA 2026, Chief Robert Ayala Enogha, expressed satisfaction with the growth of the media industry in Bayelsa, particularly the increasing capacity of local practitioners to tell the state’s stories through print and electronic media.

The 13th edition of the awards further reinforced the importance of recognising excellence in journalism and strengthening media development across the Niger Delta.