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Early life Betty Abah first worked with The Voice Newspaper in Makurdi, Benue State, and then Newswatch and Tell Magazine, before she proceeded to work with Rocky Mountain News as a fellow of the Alfred Friendly Press Fellowships. As a journalist, she practiced with The Voice Newspaper, Newswatch, Tell Magazine and she also had a stint with the Rocky Mountain News in Denver, Colorado, U.S.A. She is the author of Sound of Broken Chains, Go Tell Our King and Mother of Multitudes. Betty worked with Environmental Rights Action; Friends of the Earth Nigeria before setting establishing CEE-HOPE in December 2013. Activism BettyAbah has been involved in several cases, defending cases of human rights violations. Some of them include campaigns for the release of the Chibok girls abducted by the Boko Haram terrorist in North-East Nigeria, campaigns for the environmental rights of Niger Delta women, the case of the torture involving three women in Ejigbo, Lagos by members of a vigilante group, the case of the kidnapping of Ese Oruru among others. In 2019, on the Menstrual Hygiene Day event held at Lagos, Betty advocated for the free distribution of sanitary pads to women and girls, reasoning that since government gives free condoms for sex, sanitary pads should also be made available for needy women and girls. Awards, recognitions and fellowships Betty Abah has enjoyed the following recognition or has received the following awards: – 2001: State Honours for Community Service by National Youth Service Corps Nigeria – 2003: Reporter of the Year for Journalism by National Media Merit Awards Nigeria – 2006: Fellow for internships by Alfred Friendly Press Fellowships, USA – 2006: Fellow for Journalism by The Knight Journalism Press Fellowship, USA – 2006: Fellow for Journalism by The Kaiser Family HIV/AIDS Fellowship, USA – 2008: Child-Friendly Reporter of the Year for Journalism by Media Excellence – 2010: Participation for Leadership Program by Global Tobacco Control Leadership Program, Johns Hopkins University, USA.
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-2012: Honorary Mention for Poetry Prize by Association of Nigerian Authors – 2014: Honorary Mention for Journalism by Wole Soyinka Award for Investigative Reporting – 2016: Print Journalist of the Year for Journalism by Nigeria Media Merit Award. – 2019: Visiting Fellowship for Human Rights by Human Rights Defenders Fellowship, University of York, England. Profile Summary Betty Abah is a Nigerian journalist, author and women and children’s rights activist. She is the founder and Executive Director of CEE-HOPE, a child rights and development non-profit organization based in Lagos State which works with at-risk girls and other vulnerable children in slum communities across Nigeria, including Makoko in Lagos, Nigeria’s largest urban slum settlement. CEE-HOPE’s programs focus on increasing girl leadership, mentorship and developing their skills to combat some of their most pressing issues such as teenage pregnancy, school drop-out, and child marriage, as well as other forms of child abuse. She is very outspoken against societal ills and misgovernance in Nigeria. She has recently been receiving threats, including anonymous phone calls and threats on social media, for a campaign revealing corrupt practices at the UN system in Nigeria. Reference frontlinedefenders.org wikipedia.org Featured image source: Daily Post Nigeria
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