This Article was first posted on the Koreanet Honorary Reporter website on 1st February 2026. Click to read the article on Korenet website http://www.korea.net/NewsFocus/HonoraryReporters/view?articleId=287307
On the 1st of February 2026, a lot of time was spent reflecting on the Korean-related activities and programs I participated in 2025. What was realised was how these programs has aided my self-development and improved my confidence as a writer, creator and researcher. Now, looking back, 2025 is a year that won’t be forgotten anytime soon. In 2025, I shared my love and promoted Korea globally by participating in 4 programs, namely the KOICA WeKO 7th program, Koreanet Honorary reporter program, K-influencer Academy program and the Korean Cultural Centre Nigeria Hallyu Creator Program.
KOICA WeKO 7th Program
As part of the KOICA WeKO 7th program, which is a program that comprised of 100 domestic and global supporters. The tasked assinged to participants promotes an aspect of Korea that aligns with my academic interest, which is economic history, official development assistance and KOICA ODA. So, during the 5-month program, I carried out research, wrote articles on my Korean website and created visual content which was posted on my social media page. It was a learning process about Korea International Cooperation (KOICA) , official development Assistance ODA , Sustainable Development Goals and related activities in Nigeria and around the world. Different vlog-style videos, question and answer videos, and news card posts, among others was explored. Many of these articles and videos about development activities of the Nigeria office of the Korea International Cooperation (KOICA) gained lots of readership and views. I was glad for this opportunity, as it helped to integrate my academic interest with social media and content creation skills, and by doing this, many Nigerians and people learnt about KOICA and their various activities in aiding development, education, digital governance etc.
Most importantly, the role as a KOICA WeKO provided and opportuniy to attend my first-ever diplomatic dinner event, which was the Republic of Korea National Day event hosted by the Korean embassy in collaboration with KCC Nigeria on November 7th 2025. This was a huge milestone. At the end of the 5-month program, there was a closing ceremony and an award event. I was selected and awarded the 3rd place Excellence Global Individual participant Award, which was a dream come true.
HONORARY REPORTER
The journey as a honorary reporter in 2025 has been filled with a lot of learning process on how to become a better writer, carrying out interview and going beyond my normal research and blog-style article writing. I joined the honorary reporter program in 2022, and 2025 was my third year in the program. In 2025, I challenged myself to go beyond every personal experience and writing style to explore other aspects of Korea, such as Korean literature. Also, a keen desire to see Korea through other people’s lenses made me begin to learn and write interview-style articles. I was able to develop my writing skills because of the workshop that was organised by Korea Net. For the first time after 3 years as a honorary reporter with over 60 articles, one of the articles born of this keen desire made it to the official Korea net website, and an interview article I wrote in December made it into the January 2026 articles; this is a new milestone.
K-INFLUENCER ACADEMY
As a K-Influencer, creating video content that primarily promoted and showcased Korean culture, especially its cultural, traditional, and local aspects, was a core aspect of the program. The missions for 2025 were a bit difficult for me to create because I was always travelling around and could not easily create content to show the first K-moment, do a self-interview, talk and show my experience of Korea, etc. I was able to deal with the challenges faced by attending the training and workshops organised by the K-Influencer academy program. The program workshop brought about a realisation that no matter where I was, showing and sharing the Korean culture that is evident there brought about a unique perspective. Through the program, I learnt about using different forms and styles of visual options to create content. The most memorable content created for the program was during my summer school in Germany. In discovering and showing Korea in Germany, a video was created on Kfood grocery shopping and sharing my experience finding Korean food in Germany. By the end of the program, receiving the certificate of completion on December 31st 2025, came with a fulfilling feeling of growth.
KOREAN CULTURAL CENTRE, NIGERIA HALLYU CREATOR PROGRAM
The fourth program for 2025 was the Korean Cultural Centre Nigeria Hallyu Creator Program. Through this, there was an opportunity to be a Content Creator for the Korean Cultural Centre in Nigeria. During this program, training was done for the creators on how to be a better creators and take better videos, and how to utilise AI for video creation, to name a few. Also, as a Hallyu creator, the opportunity to volunteer and be part of the KCCN staff team for many events was made available , some of which were organised by the Korean embassy and KCCN, and an example of this was the maiden edition of the K-Heritage Festival held in Lagos. I had the opportunity to work with the stage and backstage team, which enhanced my training in stage management. At the end of the program year, I got a certificate of participation and also an extra gift of a ring light and a tripod stand for creating over 40 videos.
Being part of these programs, I was able to create content that covered the cultural, historical, diplomatic and development aspects of Korea. The learning curve and hitting new milestones deepened my interest and love for Korea, and it aided my self-development journey. Because of these programs, my skills, knowledge, behaviour, and mindset were improved, I was able reach, a level of my potential I hadn’t reached before with regards my personal and professional growth.
