Dele Olojede

Dele Olojede
Born	1961 Modakeke, Nigeria
Occupation	Journalist and former foreign editor for Newsday
Nationality	Nigerian
Education	University of Lagos
Alma mater	Columbia University
Notable awards	Pulitzer Prize

Dele Olojede (born 1961 in Modakeke, Nigeria) is a Nigerian journalist and former foreign editor for Newsday. Olojede was the first African-born winner of the Pulitzer Prize and he is a patron of the Etisalat Prize for Literature.

Olojede was born the eleventh of 28 children. In 1982, he began his journalism career at the National Concord in Lagos, a newspaper owned by aspiring political figure Moshood Abiola. Olojede left the paper in 1984 after he became concerned that Abiola was using the paper to advance his personal political ambitions.

Olojede enrolled at the University of Lagos where he studied journalism. As a student he was particularly influenced by Nigerian literary luminaries like Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka and Cyprian Ekwensi and other African writers like Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o.

Olojede became one of the founding staff writers of a Nigerian news magazine called Newswatch in 1984. The magazine was edited by Dele Giwa, a well-known Nigerian journalist who was killed by a mail bomb on 19 October 1986. Olojede publicly accused Nigeria's military leader Ibrahim Babangida of being responsible for the murder. In 2001, eight years after leaving power, Babangida refused to testify before a human rights court about the murder.

A 1986 investigative report on the imprisonment of the popular Nigerian musician Fela Kuti led to Kuti's release and the dismissal of the judge who imprisoned him. In 1987, Olojede's efforts earned him a US$26,000 Ford Foundation Scholars grant which Olojede used to get a master's degree at Columbia University. At Columbia he won the Henry N. Taylor Award for outstanding foreign student. Olojede eventually became a US-Nigeria dual citizen.

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