After working for 10 years at the BBC, British Council’s Chevening Scholarship Programme alumna, Kadaria Ahmed, has come home to Nigeria to plough back the knowledge and experience gathered over the years into her own people.

Ahmed, who is from the northern part of Nigeria, obtained an MA in Television Documentary at London University.

Ahmed heads the whole of the NEXT newsroom as Managing Editor. She is responsible for editorial direction for all content that goes out on all of our platforms. This includes, 'NEXT ON SUNDAY' our broadsheet Sunday paper, NEXT' our daily tabloid paper which will hit the streets in July, 234next.com, website and news alerts that go out on mobile phones and twitter.

NEXT is a daily newspaper that includes Nigeria’s local and national news, world news, sports, opinion as well as the youth entertainment section.

The Chevening Scholarship Programme, administered by the British Council and funded by the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office, funds postgraduate students who want to study for an academic year in the UK.

An all-rounder in journalism, Ahmed started her career at the BBC in radio. She then wrote for the BBC’s in-house journal.

‘I also dabbled in print journalism with Focus On Africa, one of our publications, and did a bit of TV on BBC World. I eventually came back to Nigeria two and a half years ago and here I am today,’ she says.

Ahmed grew up in family of avid readers, where she was brought up to believe that she could make a difference.

‘I was taught from an early age that individuals can and do make a difference. From as far back as I can remember, I believed I could make a difference through journalism.’

Ahmed, who used to tell her parents that she would one day work at the BBC, says nothing is impossible if you put your mind to it.

‘If my parents thought it was a far-fetched dream for a young girl growing up in rural northern Nigeria in the 1980s, they never let on.’

Ahmed says the British Council’s Chevening Scholarship changed her life for the better.

‘It gave me an opportunity usually reserved for the very wealthy in my society. I got a sound education, but perhaps more importantly, the opportunity to experience another world.

‘Without that understanding, I might not have been inspired, I probably would not have hoped, and the chances are I would not have dared to dream and would probably not have achieved what I did,’ she says.

If Ahmed wasn’t a journalist, she would probably be travelling the world, she says.

‘If it is a question of having the freedom and power to do whatever I like, it would probably entail a lot of travelling to new places.’

She says the Chevening Scholarship award makes a difference to people’s lives.

‘There are hundreds of thousands of people like me, just waiting for that opportunity that will ensure their potential is unleashed and then realised.’

Ahmed says she spends a lot of time mentoring young women, helping them to get formal education and better their standard of living.

‘It is in ensuring that even if all around you people are doing the wrong thing, you stick to that which you believe in. It is in the way you treat people around you as human beings regardless of their economic or financial status.’

A mother of two, she says having children makes you realise what is really important in life.

‘You begin to appreciate the importance of contributing to the development of a better society so that your children’s future is safe and assured. My children have made me more determined to contribute the little I can to ensure that I make an impact on my society and the world at large in a positive way.’

Ahmed says at the moment her focus in on taking NEXT to the next level.

‘We want to raise the quality of journalism on offer in Nigeria. We believe that if we do this, we will contribute to the institutionalisation of democratic values in our society, empower our people to insist on good governance and contribute to the overall development of our society.’

She believes that small gestures make an impact on people’s lives.

‘If everyone could focus on doing the little things, the big things might just take care of themselves.’

In the next five years she would like to write a novel and set up a Technology Reading, Information Communication and Knowledge Centre (TRICK) in deprived areas of Nigeria.

‘The idea is to give to the young and poorest in society tools that will be the foundation for a better life for them. Teach them how to read and write; give them access to books through traditional but also virtual libraries; show them how to use computers for communication and to access information.’

Ahmed says she knows that armed with this knowledge, these young people will be well on their way to better lives.