Kadaria Ahmed is a Nigerian journalist, media entrepreneur and television host. She has an MA in Television from Goldsmiths, University of London, and a bachelor’s from Bayero University Kano. She is also a Chevening Scholar.
She started her career at the BBC where she was a senior producer working on award-winning programs, Focus on Africa and Network Africa. In that capacity, she helped shape the news agenda for those leading programs and reported from many parts of the world including South Africa, Eritrea and the United Nations.
Back in Nigeria, Ahmed served as the editor of Next (Nigeria), an award-winning publication. There, she supervised a newsroom of approximately 120 people and about 30 stringers and drove the editorial agenda for the organisation. The newspaper stopped publishing its print edition in September 2011.
In 2011, she moderated Nigeria’s presidential election debate on live television.
In 2014, she co-created, produced and presented Straight Talk, an interview programme designed to probe and confront Nigeria’s decision makers on matters of relevance. The syndicated show grew to an audience of over 4 million viewers globally. Some of her notable interview subjects include Ibrahim Babangida, Tonye Princewill, Babatunde Fashola, Rotimi Amaechi, Ali Baba, Oby Ezekwesili, among many others.
In 2017, she launched a new show called The Core on Channels TV. In July 2017, she interviewed Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) who made news by declaring it is “Biafra or death”.
In the build up to the February 2019 general elections, she moderated the town hall meetings for presidential candidates and their deputies, specifically that of President Muhammadu Buhari and his vice, Professor Yemi Osibanjo.
Ahmed is currently a member of the Governing Board of Kashim Ibrahim Fellowship, judging panel of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism and sits on the Board of Trustees of Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism and the Promasidor Quill awards. She is also a member of the Nigerian Guild of Editors and the Nigerian Institute of Directors.
In 2017, she founded Daria Media Ltd, a company designed to promote public service journalism.
