Samoa Agreement: Our apology

In the July 4, 2024 edition of the Daily Trust, our lead story, “LGBT: Nigeria Signs $150 Billion Samoa Deal” generated much interest and some controversy across the country. In response, the Federal Government lodged a formal complaint with the National Media Complaints Commission (NMCC), an independent Ombudsman.

The NMCC has just ruled that salient parts of the story were inaccurate and fell short of the high journalistic standards with which all newspapers should adhere to. We have duly published the full report of the NMCC, in our edition of Tuesday, September 24, 2024.

We accept the verdict of the NMCC without any equivocation. We apologise to the Federal Government for any inconveniences the story might have caused to it. We also apologise to our readers and the public for getting the story wrong in the first place.

Our internal editorial mechanisms for reporting, editing, and approving news stories for publication are robust and have served us well for more than a quarter-century. However, following this, we have taken more steps, to improve these mechanisms and enhance their effectiveness.

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As a newspaper, we strive to serve the interests of our readers and to promote the unity, security, and development of our country. We do these by producing content that help readers understand the world in which they live, promote a healthy debate between competing parties on any issue, and holding leaders accountable to the led.

We neither favour nor bear a grudge against any government, party, or individual. We simply seek the truth wherever it leads us and publish the result in the public interest.

But like all newspapers the world over, we sometimes make mistakes or get some facts wrong. Which explains why even before the advent of the National Ombusdman, we have had internal ones, in the persons of late Hajia Bilkisu Yusuf (2007) and Mr. Dan Agbese (2015). We take this process of prompting and self-correction seriously.

We would like to thank the National Media Complaints Commission (NMCC) for its thorough and professional approach in resolving this case. We also thank the Federal Government, particularly the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Alhaji Mohammed Idris, for his professional and democratic approach to this incident. Last, but in many ways first, we thank our readers, advertisers, and other stakeholders, for their patience and TRUST in us.