Reporting Period: 2025–2026 | Published: March 2026 | Next Review: March 2027
A Note From the Editor-in-Chief
Who is in the newsroom matters. Not because diversity is a corporate obligation to be discharged and ticked off a compliance checklist. It matters because journalism is only as representative as the people who produce it. A newsroom that does not reflect the society it covers will — inevitably, predictably, and often invisibly — produce journalism that reflects its own blind spots rather than the full reality of the country it claims to serve.
Nigeria is a country of 220 million people, more than 500 languages, 36 states, six geopolitical zones, and a diversity of experience, aspiration, and grievance that no single background, region, or perspective can adequately represent. The Gazette News exists to cover Nigeria whole. That ambition is impossible without a team that is itself whole.
This report is our public account of where we are. It is honest about our gaps. It is specific about our commitments. And it will be updated annually so that our readers — and our potential future colleagues — can hold us to what we say.
Vangawa Bolgent Founder & Editor-in-Chief, The Gazette News
1. Our Diversity Commitment
The Gazette News is committed to building and maintaining a newsroom that reflects the full breadth of Nigerian society — in gender, geographic origin, ethnicity, religion, generation, disability status, and economic background. This commitment is not aspirational decoration. It is an editorial necessity.
We believe that:
- A newsroom without geographic diversity will systematically undercover the majority of Nigeria that does not live in Lagos or Abuja
- A newsroom without gender diversity will miss stories, misframe questions, and produce journalism that fails half of its potential audience
- A newsroom without generational diversity will struggle to understand how different age cohorts experience the same political and economic realities
- A newsroom without ethnic and religious diversity will, despite its best intentions, produce coverage that reflects the cultural assumptions of its dominant group rather than the full complexity of Nigeria’s social landscape
Diversity at The Gazette News is therefore an editorial value, not a human resources policy.
2. Current Staffing Profile
The Gazette News is a growing organisation at an early stage of its institutional development. The staffing figures below reflect our current team composition as at March 2026. We publish this data transparently and commit to annual updates.
Gender
| Gender | Percentage of Editorial Staff |
|---|---|
| Male | To be published as team expands |
| Female | To be published as team expands |
| Non-binary / prefer not to say | To be published as team expands |
Geographic Origin — Nigerian States Represented
| Geopolitical Zone | Representation |
|---|---|
| North-Central | Represented |
| North-East | Represented |
| North-West | Under-represented — active recruitment priority |
| South-East | Under-represented — active recruitment priority |
| South-South | Under-represented — active recruitment priority |
| South-West | Represented |
Leadership Gender Balance
| Role Level | Female Representation |
|---|---|
| Founder / Editor-in-Chief | Under development — see targets below |
| Senior Editors | Under development |
| Reporters | Under development |
| Contributors | Open — see Careers page |
Editorial Language Capacity
| Language | In-House Capacity |
|---|---|
| English | Full capacity |
| Hausa | Target for 2026 recruitment |
| Yoruba | Target for 2026 recruitment |
| Igbo | Target for 2026 recruitment |
| Pidgin | Represented |
Note: As our team grows beyond its founding stage, all data fields above will be populated with specific figures. We publish this framework now to establish the transparency standard we will hold ourselves to as we grow.
3. Identified Gaps and Priorities
The Gazette News acknowledges the following specific diversity gaps in our current team composition and commits to addressing them as active recruitment priorities:
Geographic representation Our current team has stronger representation from North-Central Nigeria and Abuja than from other geopolitical zones. This creates a risk of geographic editorial bias in story selection and framing. We are actively recruiting reporters, contributors, and correspondents from the South-East, South-South, North-West, and North-East.
Gender balance in senior editorial roles We are committed to achieving gender parity in senior editorial positions. This is an active hiring criterion, not a passive aspiration.
Disability inclusion The Gazette News has not yet formally assessed the accessibility of our working environment and workflows for colleagues with disabilities. This assessment is scheduled for completion by Q3 2026.
Economic background diversity Journalism in Nigeria — as in most countries — skews toward candidates from middle-class urban backgrounds with access to university education. The Gazette News commits to designing our hiring, training, and compensation structures to be accessible to talented journalists from a wider range of economic backgrounds.
4. Our Targets — 2026 and Beyond
The Gazette News sets the following measurable diversity targets for the 2026 reporting year:
| Target | Timeline |
|---|---|
| Minimum 40% female representation across the full editorial team | December 2026 |
| Active contributors or staff from all six geopolitical zones | December 2026 |
| At least one staff reporter or regular contributor fluent in each of Nigeria’s three major languages | December 2026 |
| Published accessibility audit of digital platform and working environment | September 2026 |
| Formal internship programme with recruitment targeting underrepresented communities and states | September 2026 |
| Annual diversity report published every March | March 2027 and annually thereafter |
5. Coverage Diversity
Staffing diversity is only part of the picture. The Gazette News also tracks diversity in our editorial coverage — ensuring that the stories we tell, the communities we serve, and the voices we amplify are as diverse as Nigeria itself.
We commit to the following editorial diversity standards:
- Every Nigerian geopolitical zone receives substantive editorial coverage at least weekly
- Stories from states outside Lagos and Abuja are treated as national stories, not regional footnotes
- Women are quoted as expert sources in proportion to their representation in relevant professional fields
- Marginalised communities — farmers, traders, people with disabilities, internally displaced persons, rural women — are represented in our coverage as subjects of their own stories, not passive objects of policy reporting
- We actively commission journalism from journalists based outside the two dominant media hubs of Lagos and Abuja
6. How to Hold Us Accountable
This report is a public commitment. If you believe The Gazette News is falling short of the diversity standards we have set for ourselves — in our staffing, our coverage, or our editorial practices — we want to hear from you.
Contact: Email: editor@thegazette.ng Subject line: Diversity Feedback — The Gazette News
We read every submission and consider all credible feedback in our annual diversity review.
The Gazette News — Independent. Human-Centred. Impactful. Nigeria · Africa · The World thegazette.ng