Daily Trust - the online edition

Hajia Zainab Suleiman, Managing Editor, Media Trust Limited

It is against this backdrop that I feel honoured to be part of the success story of a living medium, the media conglomerate owned by Media Trust Ltd, publishers of Daily Trust, Weekly Trust, Sunday Trust and Aminiya.

I feel a sense of rare privilege to have begun with those who conceptualised the idea of a fair and balanced, big and profitable newspaper, and still be around to tell its history. Weekly Trust, the forerunner of the Trust newspapers, began as an almost obscure, but nonetheless well-edited newspaper 10 years ago. Today, the paper and its later additions— Daily Trust, Sunday Trust and Aminiya— all enjoy prominence, rave reviews and inspire the confidence of advertisers, especially product advertisers whose advert revenues are just what a successful newspaper needs to remain firmly rooted in the uncertain media market in the country.

My excitement is equally borne out of the fact that we are today not just celebrating the 10th year of Media Trust’s existence; we are equally celebrating success, achievements, impact and the glorious outing in the affairs of a people with a great sense of worth. We may not have fully realised our greater dream of being the breakfast paper throughout the country, but with the modest achievements we have recorded so far in breaking new grounds, unearthing corrupt practices, serving as a trusted watchdog, it is only a question of time before we get to our desire of being the newspaper of choice across the lengths and breaths of this diverse country.

Consciously or unconsciously, the Media Trust family is united by a shared passion of practicing journalism, helping to develop ourselves and deeply engaging our ordinarily complacent society.

And so it was that I joined Media Trust Ltd at inception in March 1998 as the pioneer production editor, even though my formal appointment took effect from June.

Unlike what operates today in Trust, then there was no marked demarcation between proof reader, sub-editor and production editor; I was, for obvious reasons, all three rolled into one. The company didn’t have the funds to hire many staff. So few hands were engaged and paid well (in comparison with the industry standard at the time) to do at least three people’s jobs. Today when I hear my colleagues complain of ‘too much work’ it elicits laugher and nostalgia in me. They just couldn’t fathom how from the beginning we maximised everything –from material, financial to human resources. Perhaps this has become the tradition for Media Trust Ltd, with little deviations and improvements here and there.

My job then entailed handling every week’s production of our then 24-page black-and-white newspaper, under the tutelage of the late Duro Irojah and Dennis Mordi (both of whom were consultants to Media Trust then) before their movement to our Abuja office as members of the PTF consultancy team. So I combined proof reading, sub editing, page planning and the production of the paper up to its final printing. Because we didn’t have our own press, the last part of the production chain (printing) was the most hectic and boring because we were always at the mercy of our printers.

We began from the Nation House Press, publishers of the rested Reporter newspaper owned by the late General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua. Over time, and due mainly to the closure of Reporter, the printing department went into a state of dilapidation and disrepair.

Because of the epileptic power supply and the bad state of the press which led to delay in printing, not long after our engagement with Nation house, we had to switch over to Al-Rissalah press owned by some Lebanese businessmen. Somehow it paid off because of their efficiency and promptness in the printing of our paper.

Soon enough, we had to leave Al-Rissalah to join the big league of newspapers that started printing in full digital colours. The management engaged the services of Regent Printing Press which had to do the colour separation while Espee Printing Press, owned by one of our directors, Rabiu Garba, did the remaining printing in long hours and batches. At this time I was heavily pregnant. I remember how Alhaji Rabiu used to tease and warn me about having to give birth at his press if I refused to go on maternity leave.

By the time the decision to begin to print in Abuja at the Heritage Press was conceived, Onah Iduh, my first deputy in production, had joined us and was the natural choice for the weekly trip to Abuja for the printing of Weekly Trust, and subsequently of Daily Trust

Not long after, in 2001, Daily Trust started and some of our colleagues in Kaduna had to leave for Abuja, while a few of us remained in Kaduna from where we produced the Weekly Trust. By May 1999, Zainab Kperogi (nee Musa) had joined us as a proof reader in the production section, having been redeployed from the magazine section. All three of us –Zainab, Onah and I— plus our production crew of AbdulRauf Musa, Joshua Musa and Abubakar M. Jimoh had to endure all-night productions once every week. At day break after production night, I would proceed to the press for the printing of the paper before retiring for home in the afternoon. If problems were encountered and production stretched further, that also meant additional hours of work and exhaustion, and sometimes close to 36 hours of non-stop work

In 2000, based on the advice of the then Assistant Editor who later became Acting Editor, Isyaku Dikko, now a permanent secretary for special duties to Governor Ibrahim Shema of Katsina State, and after due consultation, I was finally pulled out of production into direct editorial matters, first as Features Editor and later as Assistant Editor. Towards the end of 2001, Garba Deen Muhammad who had earlier been sent to Kaduna as Acting Editor of Weekly Trust was recalled to Abuja and I was made Acting Editor and substantive Deputy Editor. Again in early 2002, I had to make way for Garba Deen who came back as editor while I remained his Deputy. In September 2003, I was again redeployed to Daily Trust as Modibbo Kawu’s deputy in charge of Features and Comments, and Secretary to the Editorial Board. In November 2005, when another round of deployments took place, I was made the substantive editor of Weekly Trust. In March 2007, I was deployed to the Managing editor’s office as Dep. Managing Editor, but after Mahmud Jega was appointed editor of Daily Trust, I was redeployed as Acting Managing Editor/Deputy Chairman, Trust Editorial Board. In a matter of speaking (or is it writing) I can say as far as editorial matters are concerned I have seen it all.

Going down memory lane, this seemingly smooth history did not happen without some nervous moments. At several points in the evolution of this media outfit, tempers rose, some disagreeable moments took place, and discomforts were caused to some people. But aren’t all these part of human existence? For this reason, I’d spare you some of them, for as long as it never detracted from our major responsibility of ensuring the paper was (and still is) on the streets.

So, in the course of the weekly production of Weekly Trust, quite naturally we encountered low and high moments, much of which in my opinion contributed to the positive profile of Weekly Trust. It was this preeminent position that Weekly Trust enjoyed as forerunner to other Trust titles that gave Daily Trust and subsequently Sunday Trust and Aminiya a good head start. Meanwhile three of such high moments in my opinion stood out.

One was the discovery of fraud at the National Primary Education Commission (NPEC) based in Kaduna, which implicated its chief executive and some principal officers. Reporters of some so-called national newspapers who got the story first had all been compromised. Some of them were even sent as emissaries to’ appeal’ to us to drop the story—with, of course, ‘Ghana Must Go’: The appeal to the Editor-in-Chief Kabiru Yusuf did not yield positive result, but in his usual diplomatic way of handling such issues, he disappeared from the scene. Adagbo Onoja, the anchor person, and Isyaku Dikko, the Assistant Editor as well as myself, who was in charge of production took up the gauntlet. Since there was no indication of any special interest by our boss and the story was in public interest, we ran it.

When the story was eventually published, NPEC top shots ensured that all copies of Weekly Trust disappeared from the streets of Kaduna. They bought the copies over. It boosted our sale and gave us more professional leverage. And for a struggling newspaper it was a strong signal to our competitors and colleagues in the industry.

As a matter of fact, our company’s ‘No thank you’ policy is actually a reinforcement of the history of incorruptibility that we have always been for –which is that we have a social responsibility as guardians of public trust. Papers from the Media Trust stable have since finally held the mirror, through which the society sees itself with the hope that a bad image (ills of the society) should elicit attention from the authorities and be corrected

Likewise, our hard-won credibility was hinged on a politically volatile issue of opposing the Abacha regime. When some Northern politicians, the G18 and later the G34, rejected General Abacha’s self-perpetuation agenda, Weekly Trust was bold to report it in what was headlined –Northern Notables caution Abacha. This was a politically risky story given Abacha’s intolerance of opposition.

Again while trying to give a credible civilian cloak to his self-created five political parties and in those parties’ famous and notorious endorsement of Abacha, Weekly Trust reported lavishly the only dissenting voice in the maddening crowd, GDM; even though there were said to be

some powerful forces behind the party. At least Alhaji MD Yusuf was the only presidential candidate that stood against Abacha. GDM held its convention in Maiduguri to choose him as their candidate. The Editor-in-Chief followed up with his attendance and reportage from Maiduguri of the GDM conference where MD Yusuf emerged as presidential aspirant.

And so it came to pass that the electoral façade crumbled with the death of General Abacha. But while it lasted we never feared to chronicle the events that shaped the thoughts and passions of the moment.

In a quick succession, the paper followed up with interviews with prominent past leaders, who had kept sealed lips during Abacha’s nerve-racking transition –Alhaji Shehu Shagari, General Ibrahim Babangida, General Muhammadu Buhari and later the then head of state, General Abdulsalami Abubakar. Gradually the paper came into forceful reckoning.

Besides the seriousness, credibility and boldness brought into the reportage of unfolding events, there were also internal driving forces that gave us a distinct identity –the internal administrative cohesion, flexibility of the management and the prompt payment of salaries.

As production editor with many roles, I had on many occasions pressurised the Editor-in-Chief to employ more hands to relieve the burden on the few staff. His response was always, "Look Zainab, I don’t want us to relive unpalatable experiences of the past [two other media houses where our paths had crossed before, with him as my boss anyway]. I can’t employ anybody if I am not sure of his/her salary. Let’s just make do with what we have until there is improvement in our financial position." And when it did improve new set of staff joined us.

Up till tomorrow, the company’s cardinal principle of paying salaries promptly has endeared it to staff and those in the media industry. The company has also run an open- door policy, because they give every employee benefits from the annual sharing of bonus and 5% dividends. It has been the tradition, and the company has never wavered.

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