Deputy Editor of New Dawn, newdawnngr.com Charles Okogene who was former Saturday Editor of Daily Independent Newspapers shares his experience on the challenges of running websites in Nigeria.
What is working for you and what is not?
My training at the Nigerian Institute of Journalism (NIJ), under the watchful eyes of Chief Dayo Duyile, my on-the-job skill honing with Mr. Clement Iloba in the defunct Evening Times, a publication of the Daily Times of Nigeria Plc., and my little self-upgrading have all combined to work for me. However, the disregard for experience, little or non-payment of journalists’ salaries have worked not only against me but the entire profession. Well, like the late Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, said, that is a topic for a symposium another day.
What are the challenges you are coping with?
The most glaring challenge is working long years and months respectfully with little or no payment; thereby making journalists compromise on ethics. This again is another discussion for another day.
What have you had to learn?
On the job? I have had to learn self-improvement as there seems to be no provision for training and re-training anymore. Newspapers like the Daily Times of Nigeria Plc and the Guardian that once had training school or department, are either no longer existing or the department defunct or not operating at optimum level.
READ ALSO ‘What’s working for me in online publishing’
What kinds of investments have you had to make to sustain your operations?
Well, as a private online operator, we have been on our own, fending for ourselves by investing in hardware’s like phones, laptops, computers etc. to survive.
How financially rewarding has your platform been?
It has been neither here nor there as not all advertising ‘publics’ (like they say in PR), in Nigeria have realized that new media is the way to go. Except for a few like NNPC, Firstbank, NCC, Access Bank most corporate bodies are still foot-dragging in giving online media its due place in terms of advert giving and when they do, it is on the basis of ‘man no man’, not on the basis of the content of one’s website or the authenticity of the news therein or how well written. But then, God willing we will get there.
What is your advice for aspiring website publishers?
To keep, keeping on as nothing good comes easy and there is the need for self-merger or regulation as the dick and harry proliferation of websites is a no, no, no.