The president of the Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria (NPAN), Malam Kabiru Yusuf, says the reduction in readership has resulted in dwindling revenue of newspapers as advertising is now the only source of income in the industry.
Yusuf, who is also the chairman of the Board of Directors of Media Trust Limited (publishers of Daily Trust and other titles), said this in Abuja on Tuesday at the launch of NatureNews Magazine.
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He said operating in the print business had become difficult with the COVID-19 pandemic.
He stated: “The business has become more difficult and the pandemic further emphasized the difficulties the media industry is facing. The business is much more difficult and it is reflected in the numbers of copy sales.
“I believe, as part of the executive of NPAN, that the total number of copies of newspapers is not more than 200,000 per day; this is in a country of 200 million people.
“How will newspapers survive if people don’t read? Some of us are surviving on prestige and the saving grace is advertising.”
Yusuf noted that revenue is still domiciled in the print as advertising, adding that online subscription is yet to generate the income needed to sustain a media company.
The Editor-in-Chief and publisher of NatureNews, Mr Aliu Akoshile, said the magazine would focus on climate change to amplify creative solutions for making the environment habitable for human beings, animals and plants.
He said since climate change had become a thing of worry globally, the magazine would confer an annual Environment Actions for Development award on those taking exceptional actions to curb environmental degradation in Nigeria.
Guest Speaker and chairman of Stanbic Bank Tanzania, Prof. Mark James Mwandosya, said despite contributing little to climate change, Africa had borne the brunt of climate warming as evident in the shrinking of the Lake Chad region and other resources that had exacerbated local conflicts for control of resources.
He cautioned against putting much trust in developed countries on their pledge to pay for energy transition as they had failed to fulfil previous pledges.
Mwandosya called for climate adaptation by African governments that should require focus on equity, indigenous knowledge and capacity building for all.
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