Echonews honours newspaper stand representatives, issues them certificates
By Abolaji Adebayo
The representatives of ECHONEWS Newspaper stands across Oshodi-Isolo Local Government Area (LGA) were hosted by the publisher, Mr. Kehinde Bamigbetan on Thursday at the Newspaper’s office in Ejigbo.
Addressing the gathering, the publisher said the organisation purposely hosted them to appreciate them for consistently supporting the organisation in distributing the Newspapers in their various communities as they were issued certificates of appreciation.
There are about 25 newspaper stands in Oshodi, Isolo and Ejigbo through which the newspapers are distributed to the readers free on weekly basis. The stands are under the care of the representatives.
Speaking on his motive behind the weekly free publication of the newspaper which has become a household name in Oshodi-Isolo LG, Bamigbetan said it was born out of his passion to keep people in the community informed of the happenings in their environments.
“Information is very vital to plan one’s life. Without information about the outbreak of Lassa fever, people may not know out to prevent it, without information about HIV/AIDS, people would not known how to run away from the deadly disease.
“Likewise, information is very vital for us to know how government is being run in our local governments. This will make us appreciate those ruling us and call them to order where they go wrong.
“This is my passion, to make information available to all residents of the community free of charge and that is why we decided to push 5,000 copies every week since we started this weekly edition in the first week of December, 2018. We are planning to increase our weekly publication to 10,000 starting from March because we get to know from feedbacks that even the 5,000 copies are not enough to circulate round the community.
“With the 5,000 copies we push out, we discovered that we even surpass all the national dailies as none of them push more than 3,000 copies to Oshodi-Isolo. Again, out of their 3,000 copies, there is possibility that more than 2,000 copies are returned unsold as many poor residents are not able to purchase the newspaper.
“Apart from distributing our own 5,000 copies free, we publish the stories of the community, making the residents to know more about their communities. These 5,000 copies have more than 50,000 transferred values as 10 people would read a copy on the average.
“This also makes it easy for advertisers to reach more customers at in their communities.
“We are very careful with our stories not to publish what could cause mayhem in the community or chaos between the residents and the government, we also write verified facts and projects what can only make the community to be more developed.
Giving feedbacks on the newspaper, the stands representatives testified that ECHONEWS Newspaper has impacted their lives positively in many ways, adding that it has always made their voices to be heard by the government.
They also testified to the high level of demand for the newspaper in Oshodi-Isolo hence the agitation for increase in the number of copies published as well as more newspaper stands across the community.
According to Oshodi and Isolo coordinators, Engr. Joy Omiyale and Mr. Kamikudeen Baruwa, the current 5,000 copies are not enough as every resident want to read and have a copy every week.
They said people always troubled them when the newspaper does not reach the stands on time.
Responding, Bamigbetan promised that the newspaper management would see to their demands as quick as possible, commending them for their supports to make sure the newspaper does not die.
He also promised that there would be improvement in some aspects to make the newspaper dearer to the readers’ hearts.