Our Mission

The media ecosystem in Nigeria has been polluted with outright fake and often unverified news presented in unethical and unprofessional manner since the opening of the new media space by the internet. Copy and paste journalism is now all over the place and “breaking news” of even routine and stale nature has taken over the practice arena.

The situation has become worrisome with media watchers expressing grave concern that professionalism is gradually leaving the media industry; and that the situation might get worse if there are no urgent interventions to refocus the direction towards professionalism.

Naija Times, an independent online newspaper, is a bold response to this clarion call to intervene in and mitigate the situation. We are not going to reinvent the wheel of journalism practice, but we will strive to maintain the time-honoured ethics of professional practice through in-depth investigative reports, news analysis, incisive feature and human-angles stories, as well as cartoons and special interest offerings, among others, delivered in text, audio, video and multi-media formats.

Naija Times has been carefully designed to be easily recognisable as a newspaper brand in the world in terms of content and character. There shall be different sections in the newspaper but prominence will be given to reports on Business and Economy, Politics and Governance, Technology and Innovation, Health and Wellness, Lifestyle, Sport, Arts, Culture and Tourism, Entertainment and General News.

A generous section will be devoted to Nigerians in the Diaspora, a very critical audience that has not been given the desired attention.Going by our findings, Nigerians in the Diaspora contribute significantly to the economic development of the country but they are starved of relevant information todriveconsiderable desire for investment back home.

Records available at the Central Bank of Nigeria indicate that Nigerians abroadmake remittances back home,through formal channels,of about $26 billion annually. This accounts for about 5.3% of our GDP (Nigeria’s GDP in 2019 was $446.543 billion); a significant revenue boost from outside the country.

Our random conversations point in the direction that although Nigerians in the Diaspora would ordinarily wish to invest more in their home country, they are however reluctant to do so or return for reasons unconnected with the disturbing signals they get from home, largely through the media.

Because of the kind of negative information those living and working abroad are exposed to routinely, they seem to have lost hope for a better Nigeria. We intend to change the narrative and, in the process, provide a two-way channel for them to get proper and factual information on developments at home as well as relate their own experiences from their respective host countries.

We have identified credible and resourceful Nigerians in the Diaspora who will share their experiences in our Diaspora File section. We shall also have diverse writers, columnists and Global Brand Ambassadors as we seek to do things differently. We also have The Abroadiansection which is a short take of life in the Diaspora of not more than 150 words.

The Editorial Advisory Board comprises distinguished professional and business persons, university dons, media practitioners and public policy analysts who will be looking at topical contemporary issues and taking a stand on them. Our Editorial will be published on a weekly basis – every Monday – on issues relating to Nigeria, Africa and the rest of the world.

Our digital content will also include audio and video broadcasts. In addition, we intend to create engagement platforms such as Naija Times Conversations and Naija Times Investigative Journalism Awards.

The vision of Naija Times is to build an egalitarian society that is founded on equity, justice and respect for fundamental human rights. We want the paper to be known for reporting stories that are factual, credible and balanced, to attain the highest standards of ethical journalism. We will be looking at all the relevant sides of a story and presenting same in professional formats on our various platforms.

We shall take the additional step of expanding the frontiers of development journalism by using our reports to shape public policy to build strong institutions for a better society.

As we unveil Naija Times, we invite you to come on this journey with us so that we can share the experience together.