WikkiTimes has launched the Femi Falana Legal Defenders Fellowship, a new initiative aimed at strengthening legal protection for journalists and civic actors facing growing legal intimidation in Nigeria.
In a press statement issued on Monday by Nana Mohammed, WikkiTimes Operational Manager, the organisation said the fellowship is “a year-long pilot program designed to strengthen legal defence for journalists and civic actors facing growing legal intimidation in Nigeria.”
According to the statement, Nigeria continues to rank among the most dangerous environments for journalists in West Africa, with media professionals facing arbitrary arrests, harassment, physical attacks and a culture of impunity. WikkiTimes cited reports from international press freedom groups showing that 2025 was a particularly deadly year for journalists globally, with Nigerian journalists still facing persistent threats.
The organisation noted that the situation is worsened by a lack of specialised legal support, even as thousands of young lawyers graduate every year without adequate training in media law, digital rights and the defence of journalists against Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs).
According to the statement, “this gap leaves journalists vulnerable and deprives young lawyers of meaningful pathways into public-interest legal practice.”
To address this challenge, the Femi Falana WikkiTimes Legal Defenders Fellowship will train, mentor and place 25 early-career Nigerian lawyers in law firms, chambers and legal aid organisations, where they will support journalists and civic actors facing legal threats.
Report available to Nigeria Startup News indicates that the programme will combine intensive training with supervised practice and the development of shared legal defence tools aimed at strengthening Nigeria’s media defence ecosystem from within the legal profession.
The fellowship is named after Femi Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, in recognition of his decades-long commitment to public-interest litigation, human rights and press freedom.
WikkiTimes said the initiative reflects Falana’s consistent courage in challenging the misuse of the law to silence dissent and his role in mentoring generations of rights-focused lawyers.
The statement also highlighted the growing trend of using the legal system as a weapon of intimidation, noting that journalists and public-interest actors are increasingly targeted with defamation suits, cybercrime charges and other actions meant not to secure justice but to drain resources and discourage accountability reporting.
“These practices,” WikkiTimes said, “are often described as ‘the process as punishment,’ and pose serious threats to press freedom, especially for independent and regional newsrooms with limited access to specialised legal support.”
The fellowship will run for an initial 12-month pilot phase, during which fellows will receive specialised training in media law, constitutional rights, digital rights and the application of the Cybercrimes Act to journalism.
Fellows will also help develop a shared legal defence repository and a SLAPP Defence Cheat Sheet for Nigerian lawyers, resources that WikkiTimes says will remain publicly accessible beyond the fellowship year.
Announcing the next steps, the organisation said it would soon issue a formal call for applications, inviting qualified early-career lawyers committed to defending media freedom and civic accountability to apply.
