The Question Marker, a media outfit based in Lagos, has launched IkejaRecord.com, a new community newspaper that aims to cover politics, business and culture of Ikeja and surrounding communities.

The newspaper is part of the first cohort of Nigeria Media Innovation Project (NAMIP), a three-year initiative working to increase capacity, generate sustainable and diverse revenue streams, and build audiences of independent media in Nigeria, particularly, those reaching underserved communities. The MacArthur Foundation funds NAMIP.

The community paper will facilitate access to quality, timely information that is critical to the health of the Ikeja community.

According to Solomon Elusoji, a founding member of IkejaRecord.com, “people want to know who their neighbours are; people want to know if there’s going to be traffic on their way to work; people want to know why there was a protest at the roundabout that leads to their street yesterday and what the government is doing about it; people want to know when the road that runs through their streets will be tarred, when the potholes will be fixed; people want to know why the waste vans haven’t come around in two weeks. People want to know a lot of things. And they are not getting it.”

Elusoji said, “quality information leads to knowledge; it leads to civic awareness. It helps people to be able to demand more from their representatives. It can also help to build trust between the governed and the governors, between those who lead and those who are led. Because if you demand for more and your representatives can show you how they are responding to your demands, or maybe why they can’t, then you begin to develop some inner ease, some comfort, knowing that something is being done to allay your worries, your fears.”

The vision for IkejaRecord.com is to be more than just a newspaper said another co-founder, Ikechukwu Onyewuchi.

He added that the goal is for the paper to be an information resource database, where members of the community could go when they need any kind of information – the best restaurants in town, the cheapest spot to buy groceries, what the local government is up to.

The publication also wants to give the community members a voice. “So, when they feel slighted, when they sense any whiff of injustice, when they don’t like something about the community or the direction it is heading, they want to be able to pass them the mic and get them heard,” the publishers said.

They believe that “every member of the community should feel seen, valued, and understand that they are a part — a very important part — of something bigger than themselves. They are excited to be able to provide this service to the community and look forward to growing and evolving with the community.”