By Abolaji Adebayo
The men and women who volunteer to host Echonews newspaper stands across Oshodi-Isolo Local Government Area (LGA) got a thank you offer last week: they are entitled to 20 percent commission on adverts.
Hosting them to an appreciation lunch at the company’s office on Thursday, the publisher, Mr. Kehinde Bamigbetan said the organisation hosted them to appreciate them for consistently supporting the organisation by volunteering to distribute the newspapers in their various communities. He later presented certificates of appreciation to them.
There are no fewer than 25 Echonews 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 out of his passion to keep people in the community informed of the happenings in their environment.
“Information is very vital to plan and shape 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.
“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 reachmore than 50,000 due to the pass on values as 10 people would read a copy on the average per week. This also makes it easy for advertisers to reach more people with their messages.
“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 report projects that can develop the community.
Giving feedbacks on the newspaper, the stands representatives testified that the residents have taken ownership of the newspaper and are yearning for more.
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 Ejigbo coordinators, Engr. Joy Omiyale and Mr. Kamiludeen Baruwa, the current 5,000 copies are not enough as every resident wants to read and have a copy every week. They said people always trouble them when the newspaper does not reach the stands on time.
Responding, Bamigbetan announced that the representatives will henceforth double as advert agents and would be entitled to 20 percent of the adverts sourced from them.
He also promised that the company has put in place measures to deliver the copies earlier and supply more durable aluminium stands to promote feedbacks and audience engagement.
