The travails of victims of human trafficking was put in the spotlight at Fisayo Soyombo’s Dessert from the Desert, an exhibition of photographs attended by Motunrayo Alaka, Executive Director, Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ), Motunrayo Alaka, on Monday, 26 October 2026, at Alliance Française, Ikoyi, Lagos. The exhibition by Soyombo, founder of the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ), documents the dangers faced by migrants travelling through the Sahara Desert in search of better opportunities abroad.
The exhibition draws on Soyombo’s three-part undercover investigation, Undercover: Europe Through the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea, for which he spent 47 days travelling along the route from Kano through Niger Republic and Libya. The investigation documents the harsh realities of irregular migration, including starvation, sexual violence, abductions, torture and forced labour.
Speaking at the exhibition, Soyombo said the project was intended to help prospective migrants make informed decisions by presenting the realities of the perilous journey, rather than the accounts promoted by human traffickers. He explained that travellers risk dying when vehicles break down and water supplies run out, stressing that the extreme conditions make the desert a very challenging place for human survival.
During a question-and-answer session, Soyombo disclosed that he spent six months preparing for the investigation, including four months of psychological preparation, and admitted that he considered the possibility of dying during the assignment. While linking irregular migration to despair and diminishing hope in Nigeria, the investigative journalist called for public sensitisation in different languages and urged authorities to intensify efforts to tackle human trafficking.
Joseph Adeyeye of FIJ said the organisation continues to pursue smaller stories alongside major investigations because injustice often occurs without a recognisable face or name. The exhibition’s curator, Jahman Anikulapo, described journalism as a practice rooted in life and human connection, encouraging guests to regard the photographs as their own archive of memory.
Soyombo’s work has a longstanding connection with WSCIJ. He won the online category of the Wole Soyinka Award for Investigative Reporting in 2014, was named Nigerian Investigative Journalist of the Year in 2016 and won the award again in 2017. Alaka’s attendance reflected WSCIJ’s continued support for investigative journalism and visual storytelling as tools for public engagement. The Centre’s Visual Realities programme trains and mentors photojournalists and cartoonists in visual storytelling, while the Wole Soyinka Award for Investigative Reporting recognises excellence across photojournalism, print, broadcast, online and editorial cartooning.
Other attendees included Editor-in-Chief/ Founder & CEO, TheCable, Simon Kolawole, former Managing Director/ Editor-in-Chief of Punch Newspaper, Ademola Osinubi, Nigerian Chess Coach, Tunde Onakoya, Executive Director, Enough is Enough, Yemi Adamolekun, Former Lagos Commissioner of Information and Strategy, Steve Ayorinde, Famous Actor, Kate Henshaw, representatives of the Ford Foundation among others.
The exhibition illustrates how investigative journalism can extend beyond exposing wrongdoing to document lived experiences and make complex social issues accessible to wider audiences. The exhibition also prompted a show of solidarity with migrants stranded in Libya, as participants pledged financial support towards facilitating their repatriation.
Desserts from the Desert runs until Wednesday, 28 October 2026, with free public access on Tuesday and Wednesday. An Abuja edition is scheduled for 24–26 November 2026, while international exhibitions are being explored for 2027.
