Kebbi Times, Agenda: Two thriving private newspapers in Kebbi

Within barely three years of creation of the state, Kebbi Times was the second to none extant newspaper that hit the newsstand on the 14 of June, 1994. Published by Ango Advertising and Publishing Company, Birnin-Kebbi, the paper was a response to the inherent interest for the journalism practice by its Publisher and Editor, Alhaji […]

Within barely three years of creation of the state, Kebbi Times was the second to none extant newspaper that hit the newsstand on the 14 of June, 1994. Published by Ango Advertising and Publishing Company, Birnin-Kebbi, the paper was a response to the inherent interest for the journalism practice by its Publisher and Editor, Alhaji Umar Rabakaya Ambursa.

“Right from my secondary school days I have had special interest in journalism. It got to the extent that when I was at the Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto I was the Editor of a griller type magazine OBSERVER. I used to conduct interviews and from there I have been longing to establish a newspaper of my own,” Ambursa said.

In terms of funding, the publisher said the project is capital intensive. The publisher said that he made special savings and started canvassing for adverts before starting the business.

“All that was not enough, I sometimes switched off for months before coming back. That was the travail the paper went through at the initial stage before we were able to surmount them. Thank God, for over three years now it has been steady,” he said.

According to Ambursa, to establish a sustainable newspaper, one needs starting funds ranging from N10 million to N20 million even if it’s a community one.

The publisher conceived the idea of having a weekly edition but maintained that the paper has been facing challenges of insufficient manpower or sometimes experiencing problems with the printers and that hampered it from coming out on weekly basis, but it manages to appear sometimes “weekly and sometimes fortnightly”.

“Apart from the problem of funding, you know in this part of the country we have poor reading culture. You will publish 1,000 or sometimes 2,000 copies but if care is not taken you may end up selling only half of the published paper. Even those who can read want you to give them free, complementary copies always,” he said.

The publisher complained that the way journalists are perceived by the general public, especially government officials who consider any interview with them as a calculated attempt to probe some hidden dirty deals, makes publishing difficult.

“It is unfortunate, even in our community, some people feel that the duty of journalists entails digging out and investigating wrong doings. So they tend to shun journalists”.

As to the legal implications for establishing newspaper in Nigeria, the Kebbi Times publisher, revealed that even before they started publishing the paper they registered with Corporate Affairs Commission a year ahead of its publications.

“We only went to ratify and make adjustments to suit the ideals of publishing business” and thereafter the paper went to the National Library to International Standard Newspaper Number, adding that they strictly adhere to law as preparations are on the way to get the paper registered with  Nigeria Press Council.

In terms of relationship with government, the publisher said although they do not experience any legal tussle, sometimes they cannot help having rift with the government, as the government does not want the paper to publish news stories contrary to its interests.

“AGENDA” is the next “regular” newspaper that hit newsstand in May last year. The paper is run solely by Malam Suleiman Aliyu Birnin-Kebbi and it operates in the state capital but has editorial polices of giving special concern to neighbouring  Sokoto, Zamfara, Katsina and Niger States.

Agenda newspaper started as a monthly publication but later advanced to become a weekly paper.

“The paper is an individual-funding enterprise – through personal efforts I do some savings and use the some money generated from little adverts and go to press” he said.

Aliyu said it was the interest he has in newspaper publishing that keeps him on the track and vowed not to relent.

“The number of copies we publish depends on the content of the paper, but under normal circumstances we publish up to 500 copies and sometimes 1,000 copies and when we do not generate much we publish less than that – between 300 to 500 copies,” he said.

The publisher complained of poor patronage from the people and the state government. “The challenges are that of poor reading culture and the attitude of the people to the press in Kebbi State”

“This paper is purely private as I told you. It is produced by Elegance Communications.

“Mindful of the media legislation in the country; we did not venture into publication unless we strictly adhered to the existing laws. We registered the paper with the Cooperate Affairs Commission and swore to an affidavit before a competent Court of Law. Other things such as ISSN number and the rest are in the pipeline,” he said.