‘Why I’ve been collecting Daily Trust for 11 years’
Justice Nafi’u Ya’u is a contractor, politician and businessman based in Jos. He has kept copies of Daily Trust from the past 11 years. In this interview, he explains why he chose it as his favourite newspaper. Excerpts:
Daily Trust: Why is Daily Trust your favourite newspaper? Justice Nafi’u Ya’u: For more than a decade, I’ve been buying newspapers. I used to buy about three or four newspapers daily. At a stage, I observed that no other newspaper published more accurate, timely and factual stories than Daily Trust and from that stage, I continued buying only Daily Trust until date.
DT: When did you start buying Daily Trust?
Ya’u: I started buying Daily Trust in 2005, though I was buying it with other newspapers as I said earlier, but I started buying only Daily Trust in 2007 and from that year till today, I have every publication of Daily Trust.
DT: About how many copies of Daily Trust newspaper do you have now?
Ya’u: I have about 4000 copies, which cover the period of 11 years. I started buying the paper when its price was N80.
DT: How did you manage not to miss even a single copy?
Ya’u: There are about five
vendors that I buy from. Even if I’m out of town, I call one of them to bring it to my office, and sometimes if I travel I buy from where I travel to.
DT: Today, most newspapers are online, including Daily Trust, so lots of readers have stopped buying hard copies. Why do you still buy hard copies?
Ya’u: If somebody is a newspaper addict, he would always like to read hard copies. We all know there is no way you can get full details from the newspaper unless you read the hard copies. There are some adverts that you can only see in hard copies and not online. I am more comfortable reading the hard copies.
DT: What sections of the paper do you enjoy reading?
Ya’u: I like the day-to-day stories, politics and then sports.
Daily Trust’s feature stories are also magnificent and catchy.
DT: Daily Trust has clocked 20. What recommendations do you have for the management of the newspaper? Ya’u: The management of
Daily Trust should establish TV and Radio stations, because having TV and radio stations would make the company more popular. Some people only like watching television or listening to radio, so Daily Trust’s credibility, objectivity, professionalism and fairness would sanitize the media system and help in checking the circulation of fake news. For radio, some blind people who cannot read would benefit from that.
DT: You have about 4000 copies of Daily Trust, what do you intend to do with them?
Ya’u: I want to establish a reference point - like an archive, where people would come and find out about any advert, news and publication by the paper. I want the place to be like a research centre.
DT: At what point would you stop buying Daily Trust?
Ya’u: I don’t think there would be such a time. I will continue buying Daily Trust until I die. That is my wish.