Kiki Mordi is the 28-year-old university dropout turned investigative reporter that set the streets of Twitter, and subsequently the whole of Nigeria, on fire on October 9 2019, when the BBC Eye of Africa Sex For Grades documentary was released.
Kiki hails from the Igbo speaking part of Delta state in Aniocha South local government, but she was born in Port Harcourt, where she grew up and spent early parts of her childhood. Contrary to public opinion, Kiki Mordi revealed that she neither attended the University of Nigeria Nsukka, nor the University of Lagos.
‘I wanted to be a doctor quite alright but I didn’t study medicine. I studied a medical-related course in a Nigerian University. I have withheld my university and my course for legal reasons. I will be making that announcement at my own time’. Kiki, however, couldn’t complete her education in this institution and had to drop out of school due to the sexual harassment she suffered.
Kiki is a freelance investigative reporter and freelance radio presenter. She worked as a radio presenter and Head of presenting at Women Radio (WFM) 91.7 FM, before going on to work for BBC Africa Eye for Sex For Grades. She says ‘I used to work for Women Radio prior to working for BBC Africa Eye for Sex For Grades, as both radio presenter and Head of Presenting. I no longer work for either but I have projects with both amongst other organizations’.
After Kiki’s attempt to get a formal education failed, she pursued journalism instead. Although Kiki got no formal education in journalism, she has been an investigative journalist for six years. Her foray into journalism started with broadcast journalism on the radio, and then progressed into investigative journalism, ‘I have no formal training. I studied online and had in-house training as well as pocket ones in focused areas. I was first a broadcast journalist and then an investigative journalist for a total of six years and counting.’
She narrates her journey, ‘I stumbled into radio when I escorted my friend for an audition and the Head of Programs at the station gave me a chance. She said she “there was something about my voice” and asked me to audition. I guess everyone loved the audition because I was engaged shortly after.’
When asked how she landed the BBC backing for the documentary, she explains, ‘I was engaged in a smaller role with the BBC for a freelance research role when I was asked to come on board fully as a lead. The first person I came in contact with was from BBC Pidgin.’
The ‘Sex For Grades’ documentary was first released as a 13 minutes snippet that exposed certain lecturers from the University of Lagos and the University of Ghana. The full-length hour documentary was subsequently released and it lit a firestorm. Four lecturers were implicated in this expose, Dr Boniface Igbeneghu of the University of Lagos, Dr Samuel Oladipo also of the University of Lagos, Dr Ransford Gyampo and Dr Paul Kwame Butakor of the University of Ghana.
The controversial documentary hit such a nerve throughout the country, initiating conversation, responses, backlash and government responses. The video showed episodes that students of these schools had with their lecturers, harassing them, pressuring them, victimizing them.
Kiki led a team of investigative journalists including a Kemi Alabi (not real name) who went undercover as a 17-year-old undergraduate seeking admission into the University of Lagos and sought out guidance from one of the University lecturers – Dr Igbeneghu. The documentary revealed the manipulation, harassment and control that these lecturers wield to have their way with students. It was really difficult to watch the blatant disregard of basic decency by these lecturers and the shameless harassment of their students.
The ‘Sex For Grades’ documentary did not receive a warm welcome across board. Some factions were enraged and disappointed and spoke out against the lecturers in the video. There were also several that did not understand the intention and justification for the documentary and lashed out against Kiki and the BBC team.
Since the release of the documentary, several women have come out to share their own sexual harassment experiences at the hands of their University lecturers. The effect of the documentary was a riptide through the country, one similar to the MeToo movement outside the country that had women speaking up and out about their own experiences of harassment.
Following the release of this highly controversial video, Dr Boniface Igbeneghu, who was a part-time pastor at a Foursquare Gospel Church in Lagos, was asked to step down by the church leadership. He was also suspended on the accusations of sexual harassment by the governing council of the University of Lagos.
An anti-sexual harassment bill – Sexual Harassment Bill, 2019 – has also been re-introduced into the floor of the Nigerian Senate through the deputy Senate President, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, following the aftermath of the ‘Sex For Grades’ documentary. The bill proposes a five to fourteen-year term for any teaching staff that has a sexual relationship with a student. The bill had been brought to the Senate earlier but was forestalled.
Kiki who couldn’t complete her university education has expressed repeatedly that she would love to complete her formal studies and finally get the degree that she was deprived of. Earlier in 2019, Mordi produced a short film, Life At the Bay, written by Nora Awolowo, focusing on the stories of the women that lived on Tarkwa Bay, their struggles and their reality.
Kiki Mordi, emerged one of the winners of the People Journalism Prize for Africa 2019, this is a $3000 (N1m) endowment from Gatefield, a sub-Saharan Africa public strategy firm. She was also nominated for the Future Awards Africa Prize for Journalism in 2019.
The BBC Eye: Sex For Grades documentary was in 2020, nominated for an Emmy award in the News and Current Affairs category.