Sam Amuka, Publisher of Vanguard Newspaper, has declared that the era of hardcopy newspaper publication in Nigeria is gone, as according to him, the business is no longer sustainable.
Amuka who spoke on Thursday at the ongoing All Editors’ Conference in Yenegoa, Bayelsa State, noted that no media outlet in the country can publish hard copy and make profit because of the high cost of newsprint.
“Publishing the hard copy of newspaper, as a business is dead. Newsprint that used that used to cost N600k two years ago, now cost over N2m. The Vanguard for instance, only makes enough money for transport of the print copy. A business is set up to make money, but newspaper business, is no longer making money,” he said.
Amuka, 89, emphasized that the media has a constitutional role in governance to hold government accountable in line with Section 24 of the constitution, but decried that the Fourth Estate cannot continue to do so if it is struggling to survive.
“We can set up several online media outlets, but still this does not vitiate the existence of the hard copy newspaper, which is usually for advertising, without a viable and performing economy. So, we appeal to the minister of information, Mr. Mohammed Idris to take up to fight to save the industry. We need government intervention,” he said.
Also speaking, the publisher of ThisDay Newspaper and founder of Arise Television, Prince Nduka Obaigbena, lamented the challenges facing the media in Nigeria.
He called for an end to fuel importation, noting that the best way to ensure there’s no monopoly, as some fear could be the case with the Dangote Refinery, is for the government to make local refineries functional.
“The economy is hard, but we journalists are harder. Yesterday, America shocked the world by reelecting Trump, who has vowed to reset America by introducing tariffs, then we we have to also reset by using tariff to save the economic,” he said.
“We must end fuel import by ensuring that we refine locally, and if we want to stop monopoly, then the government refineries must work.”
Earlier in his welcome address, the State governor, Senator Diri Douye, said he recognized the role of the media as of the unofficial fourth arm of government, noting democracy is incomplete without the media.
“You role as guidance of truth and you must uphold that. The media in Nigeria is so crucial because of the abundance of of resources but paradoxically, ravaged by poverty,” Diri said.
“So it is critical for the media to focus on that. For us in Bayelsa, a state where oil production started, with its attendant oil spoil and environmental degradation, which is mainly ignored, and our right trampled on, I am also a convert to the quest for a true federal system, which has remained the challenge to real development and without dealing with this, we are running in cycle.
“There is also need for reform of resource allocation and deprivation. We must address the issue of injustice in resource allocation and deprivation to endure that resource exploitation corresponds to damage to the environment. For instance, the flooding is perennial, and we need federal help.”
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