President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday led the way in wishing The Nation well at 10. The Nation, Nigeria’s widest circulating newspaper, clocked 10 yesterday.
“Ten years is a milestone in the life of any organisation”, the President said in his message.
There will be a service today at the firm’s corporate office in Matori, Lagos, to mark the milestone.
Governors Akinwunmi Ambode (Lagos), Rauf Aregbesola (Osun), Aminu Tambuwal (Sokoto), Kashim Shettima (Borno), Udom Emmanuel (Akwa Ibom) and former Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola also sent goodwill messages.
Fashola urged the newspaper to continue the “pursuit of the truth” and remain the nation’s compass and gold standard “if she must remain a relevant competitor in the conventional media space and a force to be reckoned with”.
To Ambode, The Nation has redefined the scope and shape of Nigeria’s media industry.
He said: “The newspaper has not only carved a niche for itself, it has in the past decade, been in the forefront of shaping public discourse, through its robust editorial contents, spearheading major news breaks through its exclusive reportage and controlling narratives through its array of foremost columnists.
“Despite its emergence at a time the media industry was facing a lot of challenges, The NationNewspaper through consistent, vibrant and pragmatic management of news and human resources, has remained steadfast to its mission and vision.”
Aregbesola said The Nation gave journalism “a refreshingly new breath”.
“The birth of The Nation with an unusually panoramic editorial spread gives Journalism in Africa a refreshingly new breath. Democracy, humanity have been meritoriously served by this newspaper,” he said.
Tambuwal said The Nation in its first decade of existence has “influenced many aspects of our social, economic and political life. From business and economy to sports, security, politics and entertainment, the newspaper has made critical interventions that have shaped public policy and influenced the actions of those in authority”.
Shettima said The Nation was welcomed because of its “array of talented journalists, writers and media administrators”.
The newspaper, he said, has not disappointed him.
“It is a clear leader in news; it carries very forthright and pungent editorials and it has in its stable some of the most informed commentators and columnists of the day. And the fact that it is available all over the country as one of the earliest sources of news, views and analyses, has endeared it to the Nigerian reading public. That is indeed a testimony to the organisational abilities of its entire team of administrators, journalists and other key support personnel. For us in Borno, the fact that we could reach you early in the morning everyday, has endeared your titles to us. The Nation newspapers help us to connect with the news, views, even the day-to-day stories of ordinary citizens in all corners of Nigeria, creating livelihoods, forging friendships or even arguing, thus helping to shape our collective destiny as a people while underlining the inter connectedness of our humanity,” Shettima said.
Emmanuel said The Nation “has re-defined journalism and uplifted the image of its practitioners as opinion moulders and the guardians of our national trust and ethos”.
He said the newspaper has been dispassionate and objective in its treatment of news and features and, has refused “to use your pages to traffic in incendiary and un-sanitised reportage”.
The governor urged the newspaper to maintain the standard and continue to beam the searchlight on issues that “bind us as a nation rather than those that divide us”.
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