Morocco to host CAF Women’s Champions League 2024 in November
Published: Tuesday, 15 October 2024
The Confédération Africaine de Football (“CAF”) has announced that Morocco will host the 2024 edition of the CAF Women’s Champions League Finals.
The CAF Women’s Champions League Morocco 2024 will be played between 09-23 November 2024. Morocco hosted the 2022 edition of the CAF Women’s Champions League – the premium women’s club football competition in Africa.
Eight ( 8 ) Clubs will contest the top prize. Winners will get USD 400 000 in prize money with runners-up walking away with USD 250 000.
Mamelodi Sundowns are the current holders – having won the competition twice in three years.
Morocco’s ASFAR is the other team that has won the Competition – back in 2022 when they defeated Mamelodi Sundowns.
Since it’s inception, the CAF Women’s Champions League played a key role in shaping women’s football in Africa.
Morocco’s hosting of the CAF Women’s Champions League follows the nation’s successful hosting of the TotalEnergies CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations 2022 which also enjoyed unparallelled success.
Six Zonal tournaments took place to qualify 6 teams in addition to the host and the holder of 2023 title to the FT of CAF WCL 2024. The following teams are qualified:
CAF Women’s Champions League Qualified Clubs:
Holders: Mamelodi Sundowns (South Africa) Host : ASFAR (Morocco) WAFU A : Aigles de la Medina (Senegal) WAFU B : EDO Queens (Nigeria) COSAFA : University of Western Cape (South Africa) UNAF : Tutankhamun (Egypt) CECAFA: CBE FC (Ethiopia) UNIFFAC: TP Mazembe (DR Congo)
SIRTee15: Super eagles playing in uyo may be the issue here. Direct flight to uyo from abroad could be challenging logistics wise. It's a new airport, not international and the aviation logistics for foreign airline to land at the airport could be daunting. This may explain the difficulties both Libya and south Africa had landing in Uyo. If NFF insists our home matches must continue in Uyo, then extra effort and concrete aviation arrangements must be made with Uyo airport and aviation authorities to ensure foreign airlines have enough information and equipped with necessary logistics to land in Uyo airport.
This can't continue to happen all the time teams play super eagles in Uyo, otherwise there will always be issue of retribution in return legs.
The issue isn't about Super Eagles playing in Uyo, rather it is about gamesmanship. The airport in Uyo is designated as an international airport, the Victor Attah International Airport .
Reverse gamesmanship occurs when you believe that your hosts are planning to do something bad, so you make your own arrangements to counter them. The elements of reverse gamesmanship are:
A) You book your own hotel accommodation. Your hosts would have booked a hotel for you, but you ignore that hotel and book another hotel.
B) Your hire a team bus. Your hosts would have provided a team bus, but you ignore it and hire another bus
C) You don't inform your hosts about your travel arrangements, so that you can get them by surprise and they won't be able to prepare anything bad for you.
You must have a good point man in the host country in order to achieve this
Problems arise when you don't have a good point man, yet you want to play games.
Kenya
There was a match between Nigeria and Kenya in Calabar in 2013. The Kenyans did not inform the NFF of their travel plans. They suddenly arrived in Lagos.
Arik Air was the NFF's sponsor back then and it only flew to Calabar once a week. The Arik Air flight had already left Lagos for Calabar earlier that day, before the Kenyans arrived. The NFF had to arrange for Arik Air to provide another plane the next day.
The Kenyans complained that there was no NFF official to receive them, but how could there be when the NFF was not informed on time? NFF officials were in Calabar and Abuja, not in Lagos. The Kenyans found a football pitch at a secondary school and that's where they trained. They took pictures of the pitch and it went viral on social media. That was not the NFF's fault, it was entirely the fault of the Kenyans.
South Africa
The Super Eagles were to play Bafana Bafana in Uyo. Everybody thought that they would fly straight to Uyo or they would come through Lagos. Their flight was delayed in South Africa. The Bafana Bafana handle tweeted that their flight was delayed in South Africa (I posted a screenshot on my thread), yet they did not inform the NFF.
Their plane arrived Port-Harcourt Airport late at night. Uyo Airport had closed for the day by the time that they arrived Port-Harcourt and they could not get permission to fly to Uyo because the airport was closed. What do you want the NFF to do about that? NFF officials were waiting for them in Uyo, but they were in Port-Harcourt.
Libya
NFF's head of protocol spoke to the secretary-general of the Libyan FA on Monday and the Libyan did not tell him that the Libyan team would arrive on Tuesday. Late Monday night he got a call from someone that described himself as the Libyan advance party and the person told him that the Libyan team would arrive on Tuesday. The NFF made arrangements to receive them in Uyo on Tuesday afternoon. However, on Tuesday they got a call that the Libyan team was in Port-Harcourt. How was the NFF to know that they would be in Port-Harcourt?
Now take a look at the explanation by the Mamelodi Sundowns official in the last post above.
REVERSE GAMESMANSHIP 2
There is another trick that some teams play.
Enyimba played Raja Casablanca in Nigeria in 2018. Enyimba received them very well. I saw the videos and pictures. However, Raja players and officials made statements to travelling Moroccan journalists that they were mistreated, etc. Enyimba immediately filed a complaint to CAF. It was obvious that Raja were planning to maltreat Enyimba in Morocco and that they made those statements to rile their fans up.
People engage in reverse gamesmanship when they think that their hosts are going to do one of these things to them.
naptu2: There's a reason that Enyimba have reported Raja to CAF.
My dad led many Nigerian teams to North Africa in the 1970s and '80s and he told me about the antics of the north Africans.
He said that he usually called the Nigerian ambassador in the host country days before any match. He would tell the ambassador to book a hotel and hire a bus for the team.
This is because (1) fans of the north African team would usually camp outside the visiting teams hotel and they would make a lot of noise with loud speakers and drums, to ensure that players of the visiting team do not sleep at night.
2) They would usually book hotels in the red light district for the visiting team so that their players would be distracted by prostitutes.
3) Matches are usually held at night and in towns that are close to the Mediterranean, rather than their home town, so that the visiting players would be bothered by the cold.
4) Bags of urine are sometimes thrown at the reserve bench
I guess that Enyimba believe that Raja is trying to create animosity in the minds of its supporters so that they will give Enyimba a terrible time when Enyimba goes to Casablanca.
naptu2: Chief Abiola’s story included some underhand practices by host teams against visiting teams (changing the venue or kick-off times, etc.) This unfortunately was a regular occurrence in African football, as you can see from the post below.
saintnegroid: No.10 says there was no network and internet connection.... So how were they able to make all these calls they are saying in No. 11 down? Nigeria can lie for Africa. As citizens they are treating us like shit while lying to us that they have taken good care of us. How are we sure of the information they are giving us about the treatment of lybians here? And how are we sure of the information they give us about the treatment in lybia? We can no longer believe the government because we have seen how they have been treating us here
The NFF is not the government and comprehension should not be difficult.
Everybody complained that there was no WiFi at the airport. They were able to make calls, but had no internet access. It was the head of the Nigerian community in Labraq, Mr Eromosele, that came with internet access and food for them.
The NFF is not the Nigerian Government. The players are not the Nigerian Government. Journalists that were with the team are not the Nigerian Government. All of these people detailed what happened.
You can allow politics to becloud your judgement, but there are enough people that were there and they detailed exactly what happened.
FIFA jealously guards its broadcast rights. Anybody that posts videos of the match on any social media will have their accounts reported by FIFA.
This highlights video was posted on YouTube by FIFA, but they have blocked it from showing on any other website. Therefore, you have to click "Watch on YouTube" if you want to see it.
U-17 WWC: Flamingos Thrash New Zealand 4-1 in Group Opener
Nigeria’s Flamingos got their 2024 FIFA U-17 World Cup Group A campaign off to a perfect start after recording a comfortable 4-1 win on Wednesday, Completesports.com reports.
Goals from Shakirat Moshood, Khadijat Adegoke, Faridat Abdulawahab and Taiwo Afolabi earned the Flamingos the impressive result. New Zealand’s goal was scored by Hannah Saxon.
Moshood opened the scoring in the 2nd minute as she received a pass, beat her marker inside the box before hitting a low left foot strike into the bottom corner.
Adegoke doubled the Flamingos lead on 13 minutes after her long range strike was fumbled by the keeper which saw the ball cross the line despite her effort to keep it out.
The Flamingos went 3-0 ahead thanks to Abdulwahab who curled in a delightful strike from the outside of the box.
Captain of the Flamingos, Afolabi then got the fourth goal with a delightful header from a cross.
New Zealand pulled a goal back as Hannah Saxon controlled a swung in corner kick and hit a left foot shot past the Flamingos keeper.
The Flamingos will be back in action on Saturday, October 19 against debutant Ecuador.
Meanwhile, hosts Dominican Republic will take on Ecuador later on Wednesday.
There is a war in Sudan, so they can't play their matches at home, they play in Libya. Sudan and Ghana were given permission to land in Benghazi on the same day that the Libyans refused to give permission to the Super Eagles to land in Benghazi. They played their match in Benghazi without any problems, while the Super Eagles were being detained at an airport in Abraq.
nwachinemerem Ka mbu ✪ @donemy2000
This is 2024 and you Libyans think the rest of Africa is dumb . Sudan that is using Libya as a home ground because of the fight in their country landed in Benghazi, Ghana that is playing them landed also in Benghazi but Nigeria that has legitimate business in Libya couldn't land
From the desk of @YusufTuggar Minister @NigeriaMFA
@YusufTuggar is in touch with the Nigerian Mission in Libya through the CDA Amb Stephen Anthony Awuru, who has also been in touch with the NFF and Libyan authorities since last night, but Libyan authorities were yet to authorize them to travel to Bayda City, where the airport is located.
However, the CDA instructed the head of the Nigerian Community in Benghazi Mr Morris Eromosele, who arrived there this morning with supplies and internet access.
The Minister continues to monitor the unfortunate event through the CDA and awaits a report for further action.
abikedabiri @abikedabiri
This is most despicable behavior by the Libyan authorities. Libya is not a safe place to travel anyhow, especially by road . Your safety is of utmost concern. I am optimistic that the Minister of Sports ,and the NFF are working round the clock to deal with this situation appropriately.
Nigerians in Diaspora Commission @nidcom_gov
PRESS STATEMENT
AFCON 2025 QUALIFIERS: Treatment of Super Eagles players in Libya despicable- DABIRI-EREWA
ABUJA, OCT. 14, 2024: Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Chairman/CEO, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), has condemned the treatment meted out to the Super Eagles team by Libya authorities ahead of its second leg match slated for Tuesday in the country.
She noted that traveling by road in Libya is most dangerous and totally not advisable because of the current situation in the country.
The team which left Nigeria on Sunday to Libya for their return match had their flight diverted to an innocuous airport far away from the venue of the match.
The implication of the diversion will now be another three hours of road travel to the main venue of the match, not minding the risk of road travel in Libya , considering the situation of the war-torn country.
Dabiri-Erewa said the safety of Nigerian players is paramount to the country and was optimistic that the Ministry of Sports and the NFF will advise appropriately.
She also called on CAF to treat the matter with the seriousness it deserves.
Already, the players, the pilots, and others on board the flight had been stranded and subjected to inhuman treatment at the airport for over 13 hours without water, food, rest, and other means of communication.
"The team was delayed at an airport in Libya for more than 13 hours without any tangible reason."
The Super Eagles flight was redirected air borne on Sunday, and they were required to travel by road to their destination.
However, there was no provision made for them by the Libya authorities, and all efforts to make alternative provisions by Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) was frustrated.
Dabiri-Erewa appealed to the Super Eagles to remain calm and why the Nigerian Football Federation will decide the next line of action.
E-signed. Abdur-Rahman Balogun Director of Media, Public Relations and Protocols Unit NiDCOM, Abuja.
The situation was complicated by the fact that there are two rival governments in Libya. The Government of National Unity controls Tripoli (where the Nigerian Embassy is based) and other areas in the west of Libya, while the Government of National Stability controls Benghazi, Abraq (where the Super Eagles were) and other areas in the east of Libya. There is a ceasefire agreement between both governments, but they don't like each other.
The Government of National Unity did not give the Charge d'Affairs of the Nigerian Embassy permission to travel to the territory of the Government of National Stability, where the Super Eagles were.
Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Tuggar is the Nigerian Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Hon. Yusuf Maitama Tuggar @YusufTuggar
I have been closely monitoring the situation involving the Super Eagles in Libya.
Through the Head of Nigerian Mission in Tripoli, Libya, Amb. Stephen Anthony Awuru, the Mission has maintained contact with the NFF, and the Libyan authorities since last night. Despite efforts, Libyan authorities have not yet authorized the Nigerian Mission’s trip to Bayda City, where the airport is located.
In the meantime, the Head of the Nigerian Community in Benghazi, Mr. Morris Eromosele, arrived at the location at 6 am this morning with necessary supplies and internet access. We will continue to follow developments and await a report for further action.
Hon. Yusuf Maitama Tuggar @YusufTuggar
I received with dismay the news of the unfortunate detention of the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) officials and the Super Eagles of Nigeria at the Al Abraq International Airport several hours after arriving ahead of Tuesday’s crucial 2025 AFCON qualifier against Libya.
This incident, though regrettable, emphasizes the importance on the need for the safety and well-being of our officials and players.
To resolve the incident, I initiated a phone call to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Libyan Eastern Government, Dr Abdulhadi Lahweej. This led to a series of actions, culminating in steps taken to assuage NFF officials and reassure the players of their safety. Subsequently, the contingent departed for Nigeria, and we await their arrival.
I commend the authorities' actions in resolving the incident and appreciate the amicable resolution of the unfortunate situation in the spirit of African brotherhood.
Hon. Yusuf Maitama Tuggar @YusufTuggar
The NFF Chairman, Alhaji Ibrahim Musa Gusau meets with the Honourable Minister, Amb. Yusuf M. Tuggar (OON), to address the recent incident with the Super Eagles in Libya and discuss steps to ensure the team's safety and improve future coordination.
Hon. Yusuf Maitama Tuggar @YusufTuggar
I met with the President of @thenff, Alhaji Ibrahim Musa Gusau @NigeriaMFA to address the recent situation involving @NGSuperEagles in Libya.
Our discussions focused on strengthening response mechanisms to ensure our teams' safety and prevent future incidents.
Now let’s recount all the events of the past almost 24 hours read full details here 👇🏽
20 points of a 20-hour ordeal on Libyan soil …
20 Points of a 20-hour ordeal on Libyan soil
. NFF’s Director of Communications, Dr Ademola Olajire, provides a point-by-point account of how a keenly-anticipated Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match was relegated to a fiasco by Libyan federal authorities and Football Federation
1) The chartered ValueJet aircraft departed from the Victor Attah International Airport, Uyo at 11.55hours on Sunday, 13th October 2024, and landed at the Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano at 13.10hours, for the completion of immigration formalities and for the aircraft to refuel.
2) The aircraft took off from Kano at 15.18hours, for the 3 hours and 35 minutes flight to Benghazi, Libya, expecting to arrive a few minutes before 8pm Libya time.
3) Just as he was about to commence his initial approach into Benghazi, the captain (pilot) was instructed by the control tower that he could not land in Benghazi (despite having all the required landing papers and having completed all formalities before leaving Uyo and later, Kano, but should proceed to the Al-Abraq International Airport, even though the airport lacked the control navigators for landing at such hours. He complained that he was short on fuel but his words fell on deaf ears as he was told in stern manner that the directive was from ‘higher authorities.’
4) On landing at the Al-Abraq International Airport, in the small town of Labraq, at 19.50hours, it was clear that the airport was not a well-utilized facility. There were no scanning machines or the usual equipment for this service, and officials had to make do with mobile phones to scan passport data pages.
5) The delegation, which included 22 players and team officials; NFF President Alh. Ibrahim Musa Gusau; Deputy Governor of Edo State, Comrade Philip Shaibu; a couple of NFF Board members; NFF General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi; a couple of parliamentarians; a couple of NFF Management; a couple of media representatives and; a couple of stakeholders, was shown scant respect by the airport authorities who applied curt manners and stern tones.
6) It took over one hour for the team’s luggage to roll through the carousel, despite the fact that the bags and other items had already been hauled from the aircraft immediately on arrival.
7) No official of the Libyan Football Federation was at the airport to receive the delegation, as is the best practice globally. Airport officials could not answer the simple question on where the buses that would take the delegation members back to Benghazi (where the NFF had booked hotel rooms) were.
8 ) When delegation members including the NFF President, Comrade Shaibu and Dr Sanusi attempted to venture outside the airport to ascertain if there were vehicles waiting for the team, they were stopped in the most uncouth of manners by airport security personnel.
9) Calls to the General Secretary of LFF, Mr. Abdul-Nasser by Dr Sanusi yielded no fruits as the former kept promising that the buses would arrive in ‘10 minutes’, which later became ‘two hours’, and afterwards, ‘three hours.’ Later in the evening, it was no longer possible to reach him on phone. Frustrated by this attitude, Dr Sanusi approached the security operatives to request that the team be allowed to go out and board the buses the NFF eventually hired. This request was rejected with insults. It took the intervention of the NFF dignitaries to prevent what would have escalated into a row as the NFF President himself was not spared when he heard exchange of voices between the security personnel and his General Secretary. This aggravated the tension and further frustrated the team.
10) Hour after hour, and with mounting frustration, delegation members, particularly the players, grew restless. There was no food or water provided by the LFF, or where to even procure these items, and there was no network or internet connection at the airport. These swiftly increased the level of frustration and anger.
11) At past midnight, it was learnt that there had been word from ‘higher authorities’ (Libya is a jurisdiction governed by two different administrations – a UN-recognized cabinet in Tripoli and a self-imposed team over Eastern Libya including places like Benghazi and Labraq) that the Nigeria delegation should be delayed for minimum of 10 hours at the airport for what they falsely claimed was done to their team in Nigeria. (All conversations between the NFF General Secretary and the LFF General Secretary on the match in Uyo, both written text and voices notes, are still in the NFF General Secretary’s phone)
12) The NFF team was shocked because the incident referred to in Nigeria was entirely generated by the Libyans. They informed the NFF that their contingent would be landing in Port Harcourt, and not Uyo, only two hours to the team’s arrival in Nigeria. Despite this, the NFF moved swiftly to get authorities to grant their aircraft movement permit from Port Harcourt to Uyo, but this was jettisoned as the LFF apparently did not cherish the additional fee dispatched by the charter company. They opted to travel by road, refused to use the buses hired by the NFF and instead hired their own, and disrespected advice not to travel by night. When they stuck to their guns to move by night, the NFF provided security. The NFF even provided the team training facility the day after the match and secured direct flight permit from Uyo to Benghazi for the delegation.
13) Infuriated, the NFF President reacted: “We anticipated some shocks here given the false account of what happened in Nigeria as narrated by their team captain. But we did not expect these shenanigans. What I am seeing is despicable and has no place in the game of football which is meant to foster excellent relationships among nations and bring peoples from diverse cultures, religious persuasions and economic and political interests together in an ambience of peace and joy.”
14) The NFF learnt that the Embassy of Nigeria in Tripoli had written, a fortnight earlier, to the authorities in Benghazi that they would want to welcome the Nigeria delegation on arrival. This application was said to have been rejected outright.
15) In a conscious effort to play down their frustration, anger and hunger, players and officials resorted to playing games, listening to music, chatting themselves up, scanning through the airport exit door to see if any vehicles had arrived, and generally looked forward to daybreak, which they hoped would bring much-sought-after relief.
16) Many calls were made to higher authorities in Nigeria to apprise them of the situation, and these persons all expressed fears for the safety and security of the team. These fears were real and justified given the plethora of threats thrown by the Libyans on legacy and social media in the days before and after the match in Uyo. At 2am, Captain William Ekong met the NFF President in the company of the NFF General Secretary to inform the President that the team may not be able to go ahead with the match, due to trauma, fatigue and body aches that resulted from lack of food, dehydration and very cruel and unimaginable treatment, which had led to some players falling ill.
17) The NFF repeated calls to officials of the Confederation of African Football, Nigeria’s FIFA Council Member Mr. Amaju Melvin Pinnick and higher authorities in Nigeria. It dispatched a letter to CAF in which it detailed the antics of the hosts and hoped that the continental governing body would go ahead to “punish this rare bestiality visited on the beautiful game.” It noted that the Super Eagles had traveled hoping to enjoy a great game of football but had been sorely disappointed and frustrated by the unprecedented level of hostility and poor attitude of the hosts.
18) At daybreak, Mr. Maurice Eromosele, president of the Nigerian community in Eastern Libya, arrived with words of empathy from the Ambassador of Nigeria to Libya, His Excellency Alhaji Muhammad Muhammad. He expressed shock at the treatment meted out to the Nigeria delegation, who were made to spend the entire night inside the departure lounge of the Al-Abraq Airport. He said His Excellency ordered him to get a few things for the team, and he later returned with plastic bags loaded with croissants and drinks. These served as breakfast for the team.
19) More calls were made and eventually, it was agreed by all parties that the team should not go ahead with the match, but return to Nigeria to await the decision of CAF (who were briefed in detail on the situation) with regards to the un-played match.
20) After spending many more hours waiting for the Al-Abraq airport authorities to sell fuel to refill the chartered ValueJet aircraft (which was initially proving to be some sort of robotic engineering), the Nigeria delegation departed the Al-Abraq Airport (not worth the toga of ‘international’ by any scale) at exactly 15.05hours, bound for the city of Kano, and onwards to the Federal Capital, Abuja.
PHOTO 1: Nigeria delegation members at the airport
PHOTO 2: Super Eagles players and officials milling around the departure lounge of the Al-Abraq airport
naptu2: There is a lesson in this thread, but if you search through Twitter and check the thread, you'll notice that many people have not learnt the lesson.
There are many sectors in Nigeria that are in the exclusive list in the constitution. This means that they are the exclusive preserve of the Federal Government. For a long time many people assumed that this means that state governments cannot get involved in these sectors, but that is not true.
Bola Tinubu constantly demonstrated this when he was governor. There are many things that people assumed were only reserved for the Federal Government, but his government got involved in those things. Power generation, port construction, airport construction, refinery, etc.
You see, all the state government needs to do is to bring in a private/foreign company to invest in the sector and then they need to get a license from the Federal Government. The Federal Government wants to make money and they want development, so they will go along with the project (although in some rare cases they might sabotage the project, just like the AES Barge power project in Lagos).
Some people are asking why the oil in Rivers is for Nigeria while the lithium in Kaduna is for Kaduna. Well, read this article, the chairman of the Kaduna Internal Revenue Service stated clearly that mining is on the exclusive list and the only way that Kaduna State can take part in mining lithium is to set up a mining company and get a license from the Federal Government. Has the Rivers State Government set up an oil company and applied to get mining licenses from the Federal Government?
This issue keeps coming up every time and the answer is always the same. People asked the same question when it was announced that a gold refinery was being established in Osun and the answer then was exactly the same.
regenerateman: The crude oil from the Niger Delta is sold and shared by the federating states. Why the mineral resources (gold, lithium, etc) from the North is only used by the Northerners. What an irony!
tctrills: This does nothing. Or are you expecting anything to change now you have this information? We have known about illegal mining of gold for years but nothing is done to stop it. Do you think this would be any different?
Are you arguing with a bot? Do you think it can understand you?
naptu2: This issue has been on my mind since the beginning of this coronavirus crisis and I've thought of creating this post for a while. My decision to create this post was further strengthened by a ridiculous article that I read 3 days ago (the article was actually on Nairaland's home page). The problem that I'm going to address is the issue of journalists that are out of their depths.
Journalists that are covering technical issues need to know more than the average person about such issues otherwise they would write absolute nonsense in their reports.
For example, some secondary school girls in Nigeria made an electro-magnetic dynamo as part of the Junior Engineers, Technicians and Scientists (JETS) Club project in 2010. The project was exhibited at a fair. I watched the television news report about the fair (this was in 2010) and it was called exactly what it was, a dynamo. However, someone (I really don't know what to call him) wrote a news report in Vanguard Newspaper and wrote that the girls "invented a fuel-less power generator". There is no such thing as a fuel-less power generator. It is impossible. That violates the first law of thermodynamics. They would have won the Nobel Prize for Physics if they had achieved such a feat.
That silly article was posted on Nairaland and Nairalanders insulted the poor girls, calling them fraudsters and saying that they had imbibed the Nigerian spirit of making fraudulent claims at such a young age. Meanwhile, neither the girls nor their teachers did anything wrong. The problem was the incompetent journalist that did not know what he was writing about.
News organisations have often had correspondents that were also experts in their fields because they recognised that those subjects required more than a layman's understanding in order to cover them properly. For example, the NTA's judicial correspondent in the 1990s was Kayode Idowu. Kayode Idowu was not only a journalist, he was also a lawyer. Their current judicial correspondent, Femi Okeowo, is also both a journalist and a lawyer. The BBC World Service's health correspondent in the late 1990s and early 2000s was also a medical doctor.
Even if you can't get a person that has multiple degrees and is qualified both as a journalist and in a technical field, you can still appoint a consultant. For example, Mr Fred Agbaje was the legal consultant to Silverbird Television and Rhythm FM in the 2000s.
But unfortunately now you have journalists that do not even know the first thing about doctor-patient confidentiality covering health issues. That's why a silly person would write an article to criticise the minister of health for not breaching confidentiality rules regarding a patient that has covid19. Remember the embarrassing video of the journalist that did not know the simple word asymptomatic, trying to ask the DG of the NCDC about asymptomatic patients?
Why are you testing SYSTEMATIC patients? Nigerian Journalist to DG @NCDCgov