Adeola Akinremi unveils new poem Scattered Ground

Award-winning investigative journalist Adeola Akinremi has announced the publication of his debut poetry collection, Scattered Ground.

Akinremi, former Features Editor of THISDAY and World Bank Group consultant, said the collection marks a significant moment not only in Nigerian literature but in the broader global conversation about the relationship between journalism and poetry — between truth-telling and the lyric imagination.

According to him, Scattered Ground is a collection of poetry born at the intersection of Akinremi’s journalism practice, public policy and witness to historical events.

He stated: “Drawing on Akinremi’s experiences reporting from conflict zones, navigating the corridors of global power, bearing witness to global climate displacement, immigration, and reflecting on the human condition across continents, the collection offers a voice that is at once deeply Nigerian and universally resonant.

“The title itself is a metaphor that many will recognise — the scattered ground of a continent whose richness is perpetually dispersed; the scattered ground of a self that has moved between worlds; the scattered ground of a language and a people trying to find their footing in a rapidly shifting world.”

A United States-based public policy expert, Akinremi is widely regarded as one of the most decorated journalists of his generation — a writer whose work has moved between the newsroom, the corridors of global institutions, and now, the poem.

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A multiple award-winning reporter, he has been honoured with the Nigeria Media Merit Award for “Newspaper Reporter of the Year” (2014), the Nigeria Media Merit Award for “Features Writer of the Year” (2006), and the Diamond Award for Media Excellence — three of the most prestigious recognitions in African journalism.

He has built a career that consistently merged courage with clarity, and his writings from the frontlines of Nigeria’s most turbulent stories have been referenced and cited by the Associated Press, The New York Times, The Guardian UK, The Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times.

Currently on study leave from THISDAY, in 2016, Akinremi made global headlines when he exposed Nigeria’s then-President Muhammadu Buhari for plagiarising President Barack Obama’s 2008 victory speech — a scandal that triggered worldwide outrage and forced a presidential apology.

His work in international development has taken him across Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America, consulting for the World Bank Group.

He holds a Master’s degree in International Public Policy from Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies in Washington D.C., and a second Master’s from the University of Ibadan.

Akinremi is currently pursuing doctoral research.

The Star