When the idea of an exclusive Sunday newspaper began to crystallise late last year, little did I know it will become such a consuming passion.
On that sunny Monday afternoon when my colleagues and I sat down by the pool side of an Ikeja hotel to strategise on this project, little did I know that the mustard seed we were planting would germinate and grow so soon. It was, if you like, a leap of faith.
Many people had argued that the newspaper industry was saturated, and therefore, we should not dare. But only those who dare can conquer. We decided to dare, to challenge, as it were, the cynicism that has become the most potent threat to the media industry in Nigeria, particularly the print media. Though we have not triumphed yet, but the fact that you are holding this newspaper – TheNiche on Sunday – today is proof that we conquered the fear of failure. In any case, not doing anything is the definition of failure. That cannot be an answer.
In resolving to do something, we have decided to publish an exclusive Sunday newspaper. Of course, the question that will concentrate the minds of some people is, why Sunday newspaper?
The answer as succinctly captured in our editorial policy is simple. Most Sunday newspapers in Nigeria today are mere extensions of their daily titles. There is little distinction. This void is what TheNiche seeks to fill.
In doing this, we will strive not only to present our readers stories that are well investigated but also we will ensure that all sides of the story are presented. We will be thorough as we pledge to remain a public trust. We can only achieve this if exclusivity is our watchword. And we so pledge. Our ultimate goal is to publish a newspaper that will provide value for money.
For all of us in TheNiche family, this is a new beginning; we are shifting the paradigm in the print media. The idea is to create something new, fresh and innovative; something different.
And we are confident that the very discerning Nigerian readers will notice the difference.
Welcome on board TheNiche, Nigeria’s first exclusive Sunday newspaper.
This horror house called Nigeria
What is human life worth in Nigeria? This is not the first time I will ask this question. And I must confess that I have never got an answer.
In other climes, even in societies that are fighting wars, human lives are not wasted as wantonly as they are in Nigeria. And because nothing shocks us any longer, human beings slaughtered in cold blood become mere statistics.
But how can they and why must we allow them to be mere statistics simply because they are not our brothers and sisters? Whether we feel any affinity towards the hundreds of people that are gruesomely murdered everyday or not, the fact remains that they are human beings that ought to have inalienable right to life; people that ought to be treated with dignity.
Besides, the primary responsibility of any government is to protect the lives and properties of the citizenry. That is the raison detre for governments. That is the reason why citizens cede their powers to a sovereign state whose responsibility it is to be the sole custodian of the forces of coercion.
But most importantly, why have Nigerians become literally animals, savages in human skin? In fact, even wild animals hardly devour their kind. So, why have we become worse than animals? What is going on across the country has become sheer bestiality. Why would a human being pounce on a fellow human being, who most times is defenceless, and without provocation, gruesomely murder him? Why would people that claim to be human beings storm a village market and open fire on innocent and defenceless villagers and vanish into thin air as happened at the Adeka village market Benue State recently? Why would armed men sneak into a village in the dead of the night and slit the throats of fellow human beings in their sleep and set their homes ablaze?
The story is no longer the heinous crimes against humanity committed by the Boko Haram terrorists in the North East. Is there any cause that can justify people invading a secondary school and gruesomely murdering innocent students who had already gone to bed?
As if the atrocities committed by the godless Boko Haram were not dastardly enough, so-called Fulani herdsmen have invaded the North Central, killing and maiming people. Penultimate Monday, Senate President, David Mark, who hails from Benue State, the new theatre of the gruesome murders, pleaded with the terrorists to stop the killings. Rather than heeding his please, on Tuesday the animals who call themselves human beings upped the ante, killing well over 80 fellow Nigerians in one day.
And people are going about their normal businesses as if that is normal. In the Northeast, we are told that over 3,000,000 Nigerians face humanitarian crisis. Many Nigerians have fled to neighbouring countries. Over 1,000 people have reportedly been killed and 250,000 displaced by insurgency in three months.
War ravaged countries like Syria, Iraq, Pakistan, etc. are even faring better. They don’t have such grisly, horrific and frightening statistics.
The most fear-provoking and scary thing is the way the name “Fulani herdsmen” is used to explain away these atrocities, crime against humanity. And you ask; are these so-called herdsmen ghosts? Are they not human beings? Are they outlaws, untouchables. Is the Nigerian state telling us that it is incapable of dealing decisively with these marauders?
If the answer is yes, what does it then expect from the victims?
But most importantly, what is life worth in Nigeria and why have we become so bestial. What philosophy drives this savagery, depravity and inhumanity? What point would anybody claim to make by killing fellow human beings whimsically? But are we surprised? When the Igbo were butchered like animals in the North in the 1960s, people were clapping, without realising that we were sowing the wind. Today, we are harvesting the whirlwind.
The fact is that as a people we have lost our humanity. But need I say we did that aeons ago?
