By Damilola Abiola
The Media Mentoring Initiative Documentary Fellowship for Students (MMi-DFS) has opened applications for its second cohort, calling on undergraduate students across South-West Nigeria to take part in a cultural storytelling programme focused on Ajé in Yoruba cosmology.
The initiative, which blends documentary filmmaking with guided mentorship, aims to promote Yoruba culture and identity among young people through training led by media professionals, cultural figures and indigenous knowledge advocates.
Organisers said the fellowship will explore Ajé beyond its common association with material wealth, presenting it instead as a moral and philosophical concept within Yoruba thought.
“Ajé is not simply wealth. It is the moral intelligence that determines whether prosperity endures, because in Yorùbá thought, Ajé responds to character,” said Dr. Kenny Adenugba, an Indigenous Knowledge and Culture Advocate and one of the programme’s Yoruba Thought Leaders.
Adejuwon Soyinka, an Emmy-nominated investigative journalist and documentary producer serving as lead faculty, described Ajé as a principle tied to discipline and responsibility.
“Ajé is more than wealth; it is the wisdom, discipline, and alignment that allow prosperity to flow and endure,” Soyinka said. “Through this fellowship, we support storytellers exploring Ajé as a philosophy of value creation, responsibility, and legacy.”
Convener of the fellowship, Anikeade Funke-Treasure, said understanding the concept more deeply was essential to cultural continuity.
“Ajé goes far beyond material wealth. It reflects ideas of destiny, community, morality, and power,” she said. “Understanding it deeply helps ensure younger generations inherit not only the language of Ajé, but the worldview it carries.”
The programme also aims to correct misconceptions about Yoruba culture while preserving indigenous knowledge through contemporary storytelling.
“MMi-DFS is a deliberate act of cultural stewardship, preserving Yorùbá knowledge for future generations and allowing Yorùbá philosophy to enter contemporary conversations with clarity and authority,” Adenugba said.
Participants from the pilot 2025 cohort said the fellowship provided practical exposure to Yoruba cultural sites and leading figures in Nigeria’s creative industry.
One student fellow, Muyiwa Adefenikun, said the programme changed his understanding of culture as both heritage and lived experience.
“Through the MMi-DFS, I encountered Yorùbá culture in deeply authentic ways: travelling to Abeokuta, learning from industry legends such as Alagba Tunde Kelani and Femi Odugbemi, and producing my own documentary on Yorùbá cultural attire, Aṣọ Òkè,” he said.
Veteran filmmaker Tunde Kelani said the project could help shape the future of cultural storytelling.
“These young storytellers are equipped to shape the future. What they create will carry Yorùbá culture powerfully to the world,” Kelani said.
Applications for the 2026 fellowship are open to second and third-year undergraduate students enrolled in tertiary institutions across South-West Nigeria, with an interest in documentary filmmaking, culture and storytelling.
Applicants are to write an essay of less than 500 words on why they want to explore the Yoruba culture and Aje and send to [email protected]
The deadline for applications is the end of February 2026.
The MMi-DFS is a cultural storytelling and mentorship programme focused on preserving Yoruba knowledge, identity and philosophy through documentary practice and intergenerational learning.