‘Future of newspapers lies on digital, electronic platforms’

Chairman, board of Media Trust Limited, publishers of Daily Trust newspaper, Kabiru Yusuf, has said that electronics and digital platforms held the ace for the future of newspaper business in Nigeria.

He stated this in Abuja yesterday at an interactive session with newsmen, disclosing that Daily Trust Newspaper would mark its 20th anniversary on March 22, 2018 after two decades of challenging and exciting journalism.

He recounted the history of Daily Trust to March 1998 when the newspaper started off as a weekly newspaper in one room during the regime of the late General Sani Abacha.

“As Journalists, we just wanted to start something and to keep ourselves busy. The idea then was to get a job,” he said.

Kabiru said after sometime, the idea of a daily came up after the death of Abacha when his successor, General Abdulsalami Abubakar announced a political transition programme.

He noted that the Abubakar regime provided an opportunity for the newspaper to go daily and move to Abuja from Kaduna, which had limitations for publishing and distribution of the paper.

Kabiru disclosed that Daily Trust has since made giant strides with four printing presses, 20 shareholders including the staff, a number of titles-Teen Trust, Trust Sports, Kilimanjaro and the vernacular edition, which debuted in 2006.

Responding to questions on the future of Newspapers in the country, the veteran journalist said it is gravitating towards electronics and digital insisting there is need to wait to see what happens then.

He also disclosed that the paper has plans to be listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange in future adding that for any newspaper to succeed, it requires huge commitment and intellectual capacity.

A former university teacher, Kabiru was editor of Daily Triumph, Today Newspaper and Citizen Magazine and was South African Correspondent of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).

He has also written for Newswatch and Daily Times and was Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief before he was elevated to Chairman of Media Trust Limited.