by Festus Iyorah

In a country where bad news of crisis are often promoted by media managers because they are sellable or they can drive more traffic—good stories, news are often left off the beaten path. They hardly grace the front pages of newspaper or top the trend list on twitter.

But growing as a journalist, I’ve come to believe we should strive for balance: the point of reporting bad news should be to effect some kind of change. To point the attention of citizens to what happens everyday around them. To bring authorities to the realization that people need help; to show government why the incessant killings of innocent citizens in South Kaduna must stop.

While good news, wonderful stories should be told to inspire the audience and display a good image of who we are as the citizens of Nigerians. To show the international community that Nigeria is not only known for corruption, insurgency and fraudsters, but courage, hope, sheer diligence and bug dreams that will make our country a better place.

These are the virtues I found in Nigerian women as I travelled from Lagos to Agyragu , Nsukka and Nasarawa to tell the untold stories of brave women making impacts in their community.

From the touching and inspiring story of Benedicta, a visually impaired woman who chose education and entrepreneur over street begging to the daring story of Pamela Adie, an LGBT right activist, every woman has a story to tell. Stories that speak life, courage and hope,

Inspired by this year’s International Women Day’s Celebration theme, “Be bold for Change”  YNaija in this special series gave me a mandate to cover the untold stories of women who are shining examples of bravery from Enugu, to Lagos, Ibadan and Nasarawa states across the country.  

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Editor’s Note: The stories go live from 10am WAT today.

Editor