BY BENSON OKOBI-ALLANAH
When Delta State was created on August 27, 1991, out of the defunct Bendel State, with its capital city in Asaba, with Benin –City, the old capital of Bendel State, retaining its status as the capital of Edo State after the split of Bendel State into Edo/Delta States, the idea of having a newspaper established for the newly created Delta State, was being mooted more so that Deltans working in the Nigerian Observer, now owned by the defunct Bendel State, but inherited by the newly created Edo State, were being asked to leave.
The Pointer Newspaper, which started as a weekly newspaper, later bi-weekly and not too long, went daily, appearing in black and white at the initial stage of development, before going coloured, has been making a steady progress right from the days of its very first General Manager, late Mr. Elo Ekeli till date.
One major area of commendation for the newspaper is its sustainability, even in the face of bad economic climate, and this era of social media which many thought with its presence, and sudden emergence, the conventional means of news dissemination would go underground.
Long before social media evolved, many state-owned newspapers had all gone out of circulation, with those still in circulation, managing to come out monthly with just few pages.
If you now remember that some of these newspapers once existed but can no longer be found on the newsstands today after some years of being on the stable and The POINTER is still trudging along, despite the dwarfing economic challenges bedeviling most newspaper industries, then Pointer really deserves the best of ovations. Among those state-owned newspapers are The Nigerian Herald of Kwara State; The Pioneer of Akwa-Ibom; The Nigerian Tide of Rivers State; The Triumph Newspaper of Kano; The Daily Sketch, owned by the O’odua Group; The Chronicle of Cross River State; The Daily Star of Imo State; National Light of Anambra State, and some others I can’t really go on naming here.
That The POINTER Newspapers, with its three titles, The Pointer daily, Saturday and Sunday Pointer, still exist till now after its initial set-backs and subsequent meteoric rise from weekly, to bi-weekly, and then to a daily newspaper of note, is something not only worth commenting on, but also worth commending.
These laudable achievements recorded by The Pointer Newspapers won’t have been possible if not for the competent hands, efficacy of the many eggheads that have steadily and devotedly given themselves to its services.
Today, The POINTER Newspapers parades a handful of brilliant journalists who have made the newspaper a brand to reckon with in the competitive world of newspapering business; not forgetting the roles being played by the support staff of the company who all in their own way and contributions to the growth of the company, have also been outstanding.
Mention must be made of its newly recruited staff, freelancers, and contributors who have helped to keep the newspaper afloat, competing with other national newspapers even when other state-owned newspapers that started before The Pointer, or at the same period, have all gone to un-ending sleep, or did I hear you say ‘gone for life?; with some striving on the line of vegetative existence.
The Pointer Newspapers, despite the daunting challenges facing it, remains one of the viable and vibrant newspapers in the country today, emerging as the best regional newspaper in the South-south and beyond. It has been able to remain stable, sustained, and maintained its leading position in the newspapering industry, and its print run increased to some extent, with more calls for the print run to be increased further as readership has leap-frogged; increased tremendously.
Some Challenges Facing The Media Outfit/Suggested Solutions:
Many challenges have been staring widely at The Pointer media outfit since it was established. One of such challenges is the company’s permanent site that has now been balkanized. The site used to share a common boundary with our sister media outfit, the Delta Broadcasting Service (DBS), Asaba. It was shared by some people, just like in the days of the ‘scramble and partition for Africa’ by our colonial masters.
Today, the company has lost that large expanse of land never to come back to it again. All efforts made towards getting back the land to be developed for the company’s use never saw the light of the day.
Another challenge is the dearth of vehicles for circulation of newspapers. The few operational second-hand vehicles belonging to the company was purchased during the tenure of the visionary and workers-friendly leader and immediate past Commissioner for Information, Mr. Charles Aniagwu, to assist in the easy distribution of newspapers from Asaba, the corporate headquarters, to other parts of the state and beyond. Only one of the four vehicles is managing to distribute these newspapers with others already aged and grounded.
There is the urgent need to have these operational vehicles back on the road, and provide a staff bus for those of our workers who close late in the night and live far off from their place of work. These workers close late most nights and find it difficult to get motor vehicles to their various destinations at night as most taxi drivers must have closed for the day’s business, and with the few found at such odd hours hiking their transport fares that tear deep into passengers’ pockets.
There has also been a very conscious effort taken by the management and staff to ensure that content improvement is steadily up on the agenda as part of ongoing rebranding exercise.
The Pointer Newspapers, recently, started enjoying increased patronage by both members of the public and government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs). That magic wand did not just fall from heaven like manna. It was someone else’s brain child.
And that very person that came with such laudable idea to improve circulation is no other personality than the workaholic, easy-going, amiable, confirmed go-getter and the innovative Chairman of Board of Directors, DPPC, Olorogun Dr. Ebenezer Okorodudu, who has through his ingenuity made the newspapers a hot cake and a choice brand for readers, who now complain they hardly get enough copies to buy as against the many copies that were returned unsold in the past. Now that the newspaper enjoys scads of readers, there is the urgent need for us to have our own printing machine.
It has been suggested by some members of the public that the print run be increased, and the paper made to circulate widely even in remote areas of the state, and getting to the Northern, Eastern, South-South parts of the country, and deep South-West where majority of Deltans are domiciled. The need to have our rotary machines repaired or replaced entirely now, to enable us to be printing independently, cannot be overemphasized. Having our own printing press will go a long way in changing the narrative of our present stance. We stand to gain more by having our own rotary rather than depending on other newspaper companies, who are our competitiors, to be printing our copies.
As the newspaper clocks 30 on Monday, October 28, there is the urgent need for all stakeholders to have their hands on deck to ensure that some of these challenges facing the corporation is tackled headlong to enable it maintain its leadership role in the media industry in the South-south region at least.
