Wiki for Human Rights Nigeria: Write for Rights and July Virtual Session

In June 2026, Wiki for Human Rights Nigeria embarked on the annual Wiki Loves Pride campaign, titled “Write for Rights,” to create articles around Nigerian LGBTIQ+ identities, people, and topics. We focused on the English, Yoruba, Igbo, and Hausa Wikipedias. We successfully created 23 articles on English Wikipedia, 45 articles on Hausa Wikipedia, 45 on Igbo Wikipedia, and 24 on Yoruba Wikipedia. The articles can be found HERE. So far, we have been dwelling on what we achieved.

Since then, we have also collated and announced the results on the Meta page, and they can be found here. One key learning moment during the campaign is that whatever you set out to achieve, you can achieve it with the right leadership. I was initially skeptical about interest because most LGBTIQ+ people might not be interested in contributing during the contest when there are no guaranteed prizes. Existing in Nigeria is already hard for queer people, and many struggle to make ends meet.

The contest began on 1 June, and we had interest not only from LGBTIQ+ people but also from allies, and we were able to achieve the desired results. The outcome of the contest reassured me that I am not alone in documenting the history of LGBTIQ+ in Nigeria, across Africa and the globe. 

In July, we continued our scheduled activities and held a virtual session titled “Language Wiki Training”. It was borne out of the passion we saw after the Wiki Loves Pride celebration. There is really a group of people willing to create and translate LGBTIQ+ articles on Wikipedia. So, we decided to organize the training to familiarise old and new contributors with how they can navigate local-language Wikipedia.

As usual, the session was facilitated by the Program Officer of Wikimedia Nigeria, who is the advisor for Wiki for Human Rights, Nigeria. He walked participants through how they can contribute to local wikis to preserve knowledge in languages other than the popular English Wikipedia. Contributing to translation and article creation on these wikis can also help shape knowledge governance, especially around LGBTIQ+ words on the internet in the age of generative AI. For a while, LGBTIQ+ Nigerian words have had to endure derogatory connotations translated by homophobes.