Media Trust inaugurates reconstituted Board of Economists

The Media Trust Group, owners of Daily Trust, Trust TV and Trust Radio, has inaugurated members of the reconstituted Daily Trust’s Board of Economists. The board is chaired by Dr. Shehu Yahaya (OON), pioneer Chairman of the Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) and erstwhile member of the Presidential Economic Advisory Council and Dr. Vincent Nwanma, […]

The Media Trust Group, owners of Daily Trust, Trust TV and Trust Radio, has inaugurated members of the reconstituted Daily Trust’s Board of Economists.

The board is chaired by Dr. Shehu Yahaya (OON), pioneer Chairman of the Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) and erstwhile member of the Presidential Economic Advisory Council and Dr. Vincent Nwanma, an award-winning journalist and financial sector analyst, will serve as the Secretary of the Board.

The board which was inaugurated at the weekend is expected to, among others, meet every three months to review global and national economic trends and provide insights on various subject areas of public interest.

Such interventions are made public in communiqués with a view to shaping public policy at various levels of government, as well as in the private sector.

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Speaking while inaugurating the board, the Chairman, Board of Directors of Media Trust, Mal. Kabiru Yusuf, said the team was created to help Daily Trust and its readers understand what is going on in the economy.

He added that the board would also help to reach out to readers “because we know our limitations as a company. That’s why this is another renewed effort to set up this board of economists. We hope this board will be much more active than the previous one.”

While appreciating the members for taking the task despite their busy schedules, he said there will be regular forums or columns from the board of economists.

He said, “This may be weekly because there are so many issues that come up every day. We just had a new agreement with Brazil. What does it mean? How does it touch my life? Some people are excited, maybe there is now going to be an air link and many other things. We hear a lot of things about the livestock sector, you know, so that’s just an example. We also had something with Japan again not too long ago. We have all sorts of budgets running together. I don’t understand it. I hope the economists do. So, there are lots of things happening in the economy which I think will benefit from regular informed commentary.

“This is really where you make a big difference. In terms of the commentary, what’s happening to the Nigerian economy? What’s happening to the reforms? Yeah, where are we? Are we getting there? The Minister of Information was in our paper trying to defend some of the things. So, I think this is our hope that you will find the time to help us understand, help the reader understand what’s happening.

On his part, the Chief Executive Officer of the Media Trust Group, Ahmed I. Shekarau, explained that the board was established in 2018 and made robust contributions towards policy formulation and critique.  He added that the board is like a think tank as most times, people reporting business and economy issues are not economists.

“They have not studied economics. It’s really challenging, you know, analyzing issues relating to the economy for them. Over time, the board’s main task was to converge here every three months, review issues that have happened within the previous quarter, and then come up with a communique. We thought we should really go beyond that. If we really want to enrich, you know, our platforms with what the audience will appreciate from us.”

The Chairman of Daily Trust’s Board of Economists, Dr Shehu Yahaya (OON), said one of the most important reasons for accepting the responsibility is because over time the company has built itself from the scratch to achieve a national status and operate with a high degree of commitment to national development with a high level of integrity. “Essentially driven by some of its founders and leading members and investors, I think the idea is for us to see what we can do to support this objective of supporting an institution that has a national perspective, that tries to promote integrity in the midst of major challenges to that integrity at the national level both in terms of the economy and also at the journalistic level,” he explained.

He said the board is lucky to have the excellent and competent members with extensive experience in academia, business and the financial sector to be on the board.

 

He assured that the board members will do the best they can and interact strongly to help in achieving the worthy objectives of the company.