It all started with a call by Open Foundation West Africa for Africa Wiki Challenge (AWC) 2025 Organizers. I saw the email, read the theme, and said to myself, this is it!
For AWC 2025 in Nigeria, four communities came together to translate articles into Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba, and Tyap related to the theme; “Reclaiming Our Narrative: Justice for Africans and the Diaspora through Reparations.” We collaborated to organize, coordinate, and train participants on translation, and also partnered with Osun State University students, where we recruited new editors to join the Challenge.
The AWC 2025 theme, “Reclaiming Our Narrative: Justice for Africans and the Diaspora through Reparations,” was my cue to participate. From coordinating to facilitating, training, and supporting new editors, every stage was a mix of excitement, learning, and purpose. My passion for this project was to help more Nigerians tell our own stories, reclaim our narratives on Wikipedia, raise awareness about Wikimedia projects, and recruit new editors because our stories are the threads that weave our culture together, no one can tell them better than us. Being part of this project means preserving history. As Nigerians, we know our experiences, struggles, and triumphs best. So, we came together as one to bridge content gaps, reclaim our narratives, and write in our own languages.
Taking on the role of organizing the Africa Wiki Challenge in Nigeria for the first time, I knew it would be a meaningful experience right from the proposal stage. Working alongside co-organizers : Oby Ezeilo , Friday Musa, Ramatu Haliru, Emmanuel Obiajulu was an experience that will be appreciated for a very long time.
By the end of the Challenge, we had a total of 136 participants from the four communities while 109 created and translated articles into Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba, and Tyap. A total of 6,800 articles were created, 20,000 articles were improved.
Today, I am proud to share that Nigerian participants emerged as the top three winners at the international level of the Africa Wiki Challenge! 🏆
This achievement is more than just a competition result: it’s proof of the popular saying that “Naija no dey carry last!” 🇳🇬 When Nigerians unite to share knowledge, celebrate identity, and tell our stories in our own languages, we lead with energy, passion, and purpose.
I am deeply grateful to everyone who made this possible : our participants, collaborators, co-organizers, OFWA, Wikimedia Foundation, Yoruba Wikimedians User Group, Hausa Wikimedians User Group, Igbo Wikimedians User Group, and Tyap Wikimedians User Group.
Here’s to more collaborations, more storytelling, and a stepping stone into something even bigger! 🚀
Can you help us translate this article?
In order for this article to reach as many people as possible we would like your help. Can you translate this article to get the message out?
Start translation