The brooding period took weeks of reflection, contemplation, critique and planning. This package included budgeting, choosing the medium’s name, vision and mission statements, recruitment of personnel, registration with the National Library, among other processes. By the time we finally kicked off from our then corporate office at 47A Ukana Offot Street, Uyo, on 27th April 2022 WatchmanPost was an instant hit in terms design, content, professionalism and personnel.
We set goals for ourselves in our debut edition’s editorial entitled, ‘Behold the WatchmanPost.’ Therein, we promised “to practise journalism professionally and promote human dignity, excellence and development of society.” While we are not the best judge in our case, we are convinced that we have kept to our pledge to be objective, people-centred and balanced in our reportage.
Four years in general terms may not be a long time, but in the life of a newspaper that is true to its calling, that period is a quite some time, especially in an economic clime like Nigeria’s. This is owing to the intractable spell of stagflation fuelled by unhelpful economic policies that offer little comfort and hope for business as the cost of doing business has apparently gone wild especially in the last decade: worsening electricity, eroding currency worth, near absent manufacturing base, roiling insecurity and official corruption.
Besides, the country has a healthy record of high rate of mortality of newspapers over time. This has been escalated by several factors: the birth of the Internet and the development of web newspapers, citizens’ receding reading culture, decreasing purchasing power of the populace, and the rationale for setting the newspapers up, which is oftentimes political, and so are not run professionally.
It is irrefragable that no news medium survives without advertising revenue. Making it otherwise is an upmountain task. This accounts for why the most enduring newspapers in the country are those in the Lagos-Ogun axis. This is because advertisement is a function of business, and Lagos, which boundary with Ogun State has literally disappeared, is the economic heartbeat of the country. Sadly, the business environment in Akwa Ibom is not of that scale.
It’s not even near it. To complexify things, even state and local government advertisers arrogantly fix the advertisement rate for newspapers here and pay at their convenience. Since this is the case, many of the newspapers based in Akwa Ibom are just merely surviving. But in spite of professional questions raised about the operational standards of many of them, that they are still standing is a testament to the resilience of their commitment to playing their necessary roles in the society.
In the light of the foregoing, WatchmanPost is glad to celebrate its fourth anniversary, though without pomp and circumstance. We are thankful to our Creator that He has sustained us throughout these years of professional service to our press community, state and country. We are also grateful to our publisher, staff, customers and friends for their continued support. To be specific or follow the admonition of Johnson Oatman, Jr, in his “Count Your Blessings” hymn written in 1897, with all due humility of spirit, we name one by one, some of the things we have achieved in the period under review; all to the glory of God.
We won the state NUJ columnist of the year awards for three consecutive years (2022 – 2024). We simply stepped away from filing entry for 2025. We also won the Reporter of the Year for 2024 and 2025. At the Nigerian National Media Awards (NNMA) held in Lagos two years ago, WatchmanPost came second in the Agriculture report, in a contest that featured several decades-old national newspapers. We have strengthened our online version and now operate from our permanent office complex. Other awards are mentioned in our feature on that in this edition.
Even if we had won all the awards there are, we would be doing ourselves no good if we were to be content that we have arrived. We are of the belief that lack of ambition for growth is and assassin of development. And so, we believe that no matter how good what we have achieved is, we can still improve on them. We readily acknowledge our mistakes and slips because we know that while we aim for the best, that best is still in the future.
To get there, we solicit more support from our stakeholders, advertisers and readers. With our commitment to the cause and support from lovers of good journalism, that future begins now.
Happy Anniversary to us!