The Chairman of Newspaper and Magazines Distributors’ Association of Nigeria , Lagos Island Zone Mr. Godwin Apkan has urged the government to revive the newsprint industry, saying such steps would help to reduce the cost of newspapers and magazines production in the country.
Speaking after his inauguration with other executive members of the association, he emphasised that people prefer to go through the headlines or read on the social media platforms because they cannot afford the papers.“This is affecting the newspaper business. Government should step up effort by urgently reducing the cost of newspaper and magazine production so that the cover prices could also come down for people to be able to afford it; as this is affecting the newspaper business adversely.
He however pleaded with the government and media house owners to take vendors and agents seriously, saying “over the years, distributors and vendors had been viewed as nobody, school dropout but today, most distributors and vendors you see on the streets are graduates, some are in part time studies in the Universities and Polytechnic some are parents with lots of extended family responsibilities.
“Newspaper Distributors’ and vendors’ populations run into millions of people nationwide. In Lagos State alone, we are approximately two million. No nation can afford to disenfranchise such a large group of people from participating fully in real sector of the nation economy.’’