The Delta State Governor, Rt Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori has applauded the management and staff of the Pointer Newspaper, Asaba for its immense contributions towards the coverage and reportage of government policies, programmes, achievements and building of journalists in the past 3 decades.
The governor gave the commendation, Monday, during the 30th Anniversary Celebration of the Pointer Newspapers which was held at the Nnebisi Hall, Grand Hotel, Asaba.
The Anniversary, which was themed, ‘Honouring Truth and Unity through Excellence in Public Communication,’ was delivered by Prof Joyce Ogwezi.
According to the governor, the role of the Pointer Newspaper in gathering and dissemination of news within Delta and beyond has been of immense importance thus contributing to its continuous existence.
Governor Oborevwori stated that the organisation hadtrained hundreds of journalists, Corps members and other students who were sent to the establishment for Industrial training.
Oborevwori harped on the need for the management and staff of the organisation to improve on the quality of news content as that would attract streams of readers to the organisation.
He also charged the organisation to make judicious use of the social media and other online platforms to sell their stories instead of relying only on distribution of hardcopies.
The governor stressed on the need for the organisation to strive for survival without relying heavily on government patronage and subvention as obtainable in the private sector.
In his remarks, the state Commissioner of Information, Dr Ifeanyi Osuoza, said that the Pointer Newspaper has lived up to its mandate of disseminating accurate information about events within its catchment area in its respective formats as Monday, Weekend or Sunday editions, through the efforts and cooperation of management and staff of the organization.
According to the Commissioner, at resumption his clear objective was to carry out the mandate of information delivery in line with achieving the crystallization of the M.O.R.E Agenda and its deliverables to Deltans, as well as addressing the challenges and keying into the emerging trends in information dissemination to make the paper more attractive and to enhance its competitive potentials.
Osuoza said that The Pointer has witnessed a major transformation in recent times, both in aesthetics and content improvement as its product was currently oversubscribed by readers and advertisers.
The information boss used the medium to appeal toGovernor Oborevwori to graciously grant an approval for the increase of the paper’s print run to meet the growing demands of the reading public and increase its visibility, not just in the urban areas, but also in the hinterlands, in order to keep people abreast of the policies, programmes and achievements of the government’s M O.R.E Agenda.
Osuoza further appealed to the governor to consider the provision of a permanent site for the Newspaper, even as he urged the staff to be fully dedicated and be alive to their duties and responsibilities.
In his welcome address the well-attended event, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of The Pointer Newspapers, Olorogun Ebenezer Okorodudu listed the achievements of the newspaper under his watch as partnerships with television houses to use the paper in newspaper reviews, institutionalization of capacity building for staff, content enhancement, partnership with the leadership of the 25 local government councils in the state to ensure that the paper gets to local communities across the state, among other achievements.
Okorodudu expounded his vision for the state-owned newspaper house to include increased subscription, acquisition of a modern printing press as well as infrastructure upgrade to enable the paper to further expand its reach.
The highlight of the event was the presentation of recognition awards to different personalities and staff members of the Pointer.
