Reporting on illicit economies and instability helps communities understand the root causes of conflict.

This webinar series is organized in the context of the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime’s (GI-TOC) project “Support to the Mitigation of Destabilizing Effects of Transnational Organised Crime (M-TOC).” The M-TOC project is commissioned by the German Federal Foreign Office and implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC), from 2024 to 2025.

One key component of the project was a journalism fellowship in Togo, Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Nigeria. In collaboration with CENOZO (Cellule Norbert Zongo pour le journalisme d’investigation en Afrique de l’Ouest), the fellowship supported investigative journalists to uncover how illicit economies shape daily life and local governance.

Building on these insights, this second webinar in the series brings together Journalism fellows Sani Saidu Muhammad and Lami Sadiq, along with members of the Observatory of Illicit Economies in West Africa, to share complementary perspectives, combining regional analysis with localized, story-driven accounts from the field. Drawing on their investigations, the session will focus on illicit gold trafficking in Nigeria.

Speakers

Kingsley Madueke, Nigeria research coordinator, Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime.

Sophia Pickles, Senior analyst, Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime.

Lami Sadiq, Award-winning investigative journalist passionate about human-interest stories and mentoring young journalists.

Sani Saidu Muhammad, Investigative journalist focusing on illicit economies, governance, and gender-based violence.