THE number thirty is such a significant landmark, it is, in numeracy said to be a square pyramidal or cannonball figure and reference. And for an institution in the operational circumstances of The Pointer, thirty years of consistent contribution to public sector journalism, opinion moulding and agenda setting with truth and unity as uncompromising precursors for development shaping the newspapers’ critical working mantra.
The print industry, particularly, as it has to do with the traditional, some also call them the conventional media is obviously passing through turbulent operational circumstances in a stormy economy marked by inflationary staccato and unprecedented upheavals in cost of living.
It has therefore become expedient to appreciate any additional year of credible and measurable impact in public information dissemination and media management for development. For The Pointer stables, there is an additional reason to celebrate resilience through re-branding initiatives at a time when similar tabloids have suffered short lived fate with many having gone under only receiving some academic acknowledgement and cursory mention in Media And Society classes of Journalism and Mass Communication faculties.
The roll call include The Standard of Jos, The Triumph of Kano, The Sketch, owned by the O’odua Group, the Herald of KwaraState,The Pioneer of AkwaIbom, The Chronicle of Cross Rivers, The Tide of Rivers State, The Star of Anambra State. It remains indeed significant that while these newspaper outfits are going moribund, The Pointer has metamorphosed from a weekly publication to twice weekly and currently a daily publication with enriched content and impressive circulation across the country. This is happening alongside a steadily improving online presence that has gained traction even from the diaspora. Part of the justification for the celebration is the remarkable resilience and professionalism on the part of staff and management. Beginning from the crop of committed journalists who returned from The Bendel Newspapers Corporation,BNC on August 8, 1994 to a warm reception by the then Commissioner of Information, Mercy Almona -Isei and the fresh joiners from other backgrounds in Asaba, a formidable team of resourceful journalists have forayed into hitherto uncharted paths in responsible, grassroots and development focused Journalism within the ambiance of best global ideals. A firm foundation was layed for a robust professional career in Journalism.
We are also celebrating enduring support of successive governments, both in the military and the current democratic dispensations. Delta has had successive governments who fully appreciate the critical role of the media in galvanizing a modern society towards peace and development. We are also celebrating the goodwill of advertisers , institutional and individuals and the reading publics whose trust and confidence have made us operate in ever increasing relevance and sublime public service consciousness. The celebration with theme, honouring truth and unity through excellence in public communication will feature a rare communication and development scholar, Prof Joyce Ogwezi of Dennis Osadebay University delivering a Lecture with the Topic:The Mass Media And The Challenge Of Consolidating Nigeria’s Democracy And Cultural Ethos under the chairmanship of Prof Sam Oyovbaire, a former minister of Information .
Equally of significance is that having keenly participated in the events that shaped our State, Delta and Nigeria in the past 30 years, we shall be recognizing and celebrating consistency and integrity in public service with awards to be presented to deserving individual icons and outstanding institutions.
We are indeed immeasurably grateful to all the stakeholders whose support and patronage have kept us growing in relevance in spite of the challenging trends in the sector.
We are grateful indeed to the founding fathers for seeing clearly the role a vibrant media outfit like The Pointer can play in uniting a people of heterogeneous cultures towards building a strong, vibrant and exemplary State, a clear leader in all spheres of development.
We, very earnestly call on all those who have played one role or the other in the thirty years of The Pointer to rally round us as we celebrate, come October 28, 2024.
In the past thirty years, it has become clearer to us what the British politician, Edmund Burke meant when he aptly conferred the status of the Fourth Estate of the Realm on the press otherwise referred to as the conventional media.
We have also come to fully appreciate the awesome responsibility in Thomas Jefferson’s informed position that “were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate for a moment to prefer the latter”.
May I at this point pay deserved tribute to the midwives whose responsibility it was to see to the safe delivery of The Pointer vision of a leading public sector tabloid in Nigeria.
The role played by Chief PaulinusAkpeki remains historically noble. The same goes for Chief Mercy AlmonaIsei, Hon Funkekeme Solomon, Dr Andrew Akanigha, Sir Simon Efenudu and a number of other public servants under the military administration of Ibrahim Kefas.
With a mission statement geared at practising Journalism in the classical newspaper tradition that best represents the interests of , and generates benefits for all stakeholders and a vision to be a commercially viable entity and ultimately a leader in the highly competitive mass media industry, The Pointer has in the past 30 years remained faithful to its motto of Truth and Unity.
Thirty years on, The Pointer has amply demonstrated resilience and inventiveness in the face of changing tides in the information dissemination sector. We have remained a credible and dependable communication platform such that in these days of all forms of avalanche of garbage and degrees of disinformation going on via the social media, you still can hear discerning members of the public sound some form of caveat, in the form of “Did you read it in The Pointer” .
I am an avid user of the social media platforms for all that it is worth. I have however remained tacitly old fashioned in my resolve on the incontrovertible place of the conventional media platforms in social re-engineering of our communities and State. Institutions like The Pointer with due responsibility for gate keeping , quality checks, ethical conducts and professionalism should be encouraged towards a freer and more accountable society geared more towards peace and development rather than chaos, bordering on lawlessness.
