Shola Lawal is an independent filmmaker and freelance West African correspondent for the Mail & Guardian, a South African-based newspaper. Lawal is currently based in Lagos, Nigeria. Her work focuses on development issues, women and the environment. Lawal has reported from Ghana, Togo, Finland and from the Nigerian/Cameroonian border. Her reporting calls attention to stories that deeply affect people and the environment: Her stories have taken her to volatile oil fields in Nigeria's Niger Delta, endangered forests in Ghana and the troubled streets of Lomé, Togo. Apart from Mail and Guardian, Lawal's work, (video and words) have appeared in Al Jazeera, TRT World and IRIN News. Lawal is currently working on a documentary film that chronicles the lives of indigenous faith believers in Nigeria, and the discriminatory attitudes they face. Lawal previously worked as a video producer with Zikoko - the Nigerian media company aspiring to be Africa's Buzzfeed - where she helped start a video department. In 2018, Lawal represented Nigeria at the Foreign Correspondents' Programme in Helsinki, Finland. Lawal graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Mass communication in 2015, second class upper division, and received her masters in the same field in 2018. Lawal attended the University of Lagos.
