Twenty years already! One way it seems like yesterday and in another like the silver jubilee. Daily Trust is twenty solid years on the newsstand. Not only did it emerge, like some kind of Harley’s Comet to bridge the yawning information gap in the coverage of the north to the rest of the country, it has grown as a reputable medium of news dissemination.

In the western world, I am often asked what we cover because here newspapers specialize – and my response is always measured – everything that affects humanity! Perhaps the right answer is to say that it has a big understanding of governance and politics, and takes special interest in northern affairs. There’s no reason to shy away from its regional bias. Twenty years in the business and thriving means one thing – that it has earned the trust of its publics. A medium that loses the trust of its publics naturally dies – ours have known no better yesterday – thanks to our readers first and of course to the indomitable spirit and dedication of our workers past and present.

Twenty years ago, not many people believed that Media Trust would survive it’s fifth birthday. Northern establishments, goes the insult out there, hardly survive. The north may be perceived as educationally disadvantaged but its people are news hungry as findings from global news organisations prompt the establishment or bolstering of language services. Media historians put Gaskiya ta fi Kwabo, established in 1939, as an appendage of development. Several other publications have come and gone before their 20th anniversary. To have survived means that the founders of Media Trust got it right from inception – if you earn the trust of the people, their loyalty is guaranteed.

So let me say congratulations to those who set out to break the jinx and have sustained the dream for two solid decades and to hope they’ll be here to celebrate the golden jubilee and the centenary. Let me also praise the tenacity of all those who were there in Kaduna when the first of what I believed was a typeset print turned into film and birthed the first edition of Weekly Trust, heralding the birth of a new reportorial age.

As a beneficiary of the solid foundation they laid, I am proud to say that I have enjoyed every moment of the journey. I have met incredibly fantastic individuals over the last decade and more since I have had the privilege of writing for the medium. I have learnt a few tricks of writing from others that have humbled my own pedigree. As a columnist, I don’t recall any of my views being censored at any time. Writers must jealously guard the thin line between opinion and intellectual the dissemination of intellectual pollution.

Running a newspaper business is not a piece of cake, especially in a mercurially digitized world. The industry has witnessed more advances in the past decade than most professions. It has struggled to cope and the effects of those struggles are evident in the industry globally. Sixteen Canadian publications have died in the past year alone. Giants like Time, Newsweek, and the Economist etc constantly have to evolve and adapt to stay afloat. The newspaper has moved from typesetting to full digitization; from surviving on practical circulation to jostling for virtual and physical revenue-generation and diversification.

The utmost challenge to news dissemination today is the encroaching influence of the social media. Backward as our nation seems, we are not immune from these interferences. Earning the trust of readers has become a daily challenge worsened by crippling levels of poverty so high that if forces readers to choose between spending on their favourite newspaper or buying a loaf of bread for self and family.

The road ahead is paved with challenges and we must learn from others still in the business. It is gratifying that Media Trust is blessed with management that is far-sighted and constantly evolving. It invests in its workers with the right training and constantly interacts with its publics on how best to serve their interest. The annual Media Trust dialogue is a corporate social responsibility event that has been sustained. If we keep at these things, we can continue to say that – Trust is a promise kept.

Tunde Asaju (tundeasaju@yahoo.co.uk) wrote this piece to commemorate Daily Trust at 20