BusinessDay is 20 years old today. This newspaper, which is now the primus inter pares, announced its entry into the global financial journalism space exactly 20 years ago today.
With a strong ambition to change the economy, financial, business and industry narratives in Nigeria and the West African sub-region for the better, a carefully constituted five-member board comprising Pat Utomi as chairman, Frank Aigbogun (publisher/CEO), Alhaji Ibrahim Ida and Abiola Otaniyi as members, and Akinniyi Sowumi as the pioneer editor, BusinessDay on July 1, 2001, started a journey that today has made it the premium source of business and financial news and market intelligence for local and foreign investors across West Africa.
Over that 20-year period, the publication has continued to seek to deliver the promise it set out at the start, as articulated by the pioneer chairman, Pat Utomi.
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On the front page of that historical publication, which we have reproduced the cover in this edition, Utomi wrote: “All great societies, as all outstanding enterprises, are the end result of a great idea. Ideas do not grow in the void. Often they come from bringing the intellect into the path of the flow of quality information, news, analysis and hard statistical data that BusinessDay promises to deliver.”
In this 20th year, we are proud of the history we created and are part of as we have not only chronicled the very best of business stories in the period but shaped policies, shared insights, and converged the best global thought leaders in our conferences. Though coming out of the most disruptive economic and technology shifts in human history following Covid-19, we are as excited about the future that we see as we are so proud of the past that birthed us.
As we celebrate 20 years of impact journalism in Nigeria, many things have changed, while many things remain the way they were. Perhaps nothing symbolizes that the Nigerian economy has not changed in dramatic ways like the stories we carried in our first edition. Indeed, the first headline was “Goods inspection cripples Benin Republic”, written by Seidi Mulero. The story focused on the impact of the full inspection policy that covered land, sea and air on the level of patronage of ports in Benin Republic, a story that we believe will resonate with those that believe, even 20 years after, that Nigeria continues to fail to find a workable solution to the single West African market.
Also in the same edition, the central feature was on “Faces of (Nigeria’s) battered currency”, showing that the story of the naira’s weakness did not start in the last six years. Twenty years ago, though oil prices were rising, the country grappled with severe balance of payment problems, epitomized by the staggering over $30 billion debt.
Other stories in the first edition were no less symptomatic of the way we have covered business since. Oluwole Elisha wrote “Banks reject foreign exchange requests”, exposing how banks rejected requests for foreign exchange from their customers as a demand management approach by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) through the banks.
Another banking-related story in the first edition was the declaration of N1.25 billion profit by the then Intercontinental Bank Plc headed by Erastus Akingbola. The story was written by Remi Njoku. Intercontinental Bank ran into trouble in 2009 after a special audit of the commercial banks in Nigeria by the Central Bank (CBN) listed it among nine banks found to be under-capitalized and badly managed. Intercontinental Bank was later taken over by Access Bank in 2013.
Abba Kyari, the late Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, was celebrated in BusinessDay’s maiden edition as that day coincided with his return to the United Bank for Africa (UBA) as vice chairman. The appointment came shortly after he retired as the managing director and chief executive of the same bank.
The strong presence of indigenous Nigerian banks on the African continent owes its success to the policy implemented in early 2000’s which was the focus of the maiden edition of this newspaper. Writing for the Finance Beat with the headline “Banks go for strong hands”, Remi Njoku reported how banks had shifted attention to quality-oriented and well-trained staff in a bid to raise their standard to global standard.
Other epic stories in the maiden edition focused on the different sectors and players in the Nigerian economy and the global developments as at that time.
“Is Coke losing flavour?” was another important story that featured in BusinessDay’s maiden publication. It was written by Anthony Osae-Brown, who later rose through the ranks to become the editor of the newspaper.
The maiden publication also featured Virgin Atlantic’s maiden flight into Nigeria. Headlined “A flight of Virgin”, the story written by John Osadolor, now the deputy editor and head of BusinessDay’s Abuja office, projected that Virgin Atlantic would challenge British Airways on the Lagos-London route with lower fares.
There was a photograph of Musiliu Smith, the then Inspector General of Police, and Gaius Obaseki, who was then the group managing director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), conferring with each other. Undoubtedly, the two institutions headed by both men, then and now, remain very sensitive in Nigeria.
BusinessDay also reported that “NNPC reviews cash call payment” in the maiden edition. “This move, it was learnt, is the apex oil industry authority’s plan to reduce delay in payment of cash calls and avoid losses to government,” the report said.
As a follow-up, BusinessDay also carried a story on why the country’s oil and gas sector had not witnessed much progress. It was an interview with Chamberlin Oyibo conducted by Olusola Bello. Oyibo, in the interview titled “Government interests derail oil industry”, identified government running of oil and gas business as against providing policy guidance as the bane of the nation’s oil and gas development.
From first edition also, BusinessDay’s Africa ambitions were clear. There was a section on Africa where the newspaper asked the question: “Who speaks for Africa?” A lot has since changed positively for the African continent with the elections of Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, an Ethiopian, as director-general of the World Health Organisation (WHO), and Ngozi-Okonjo Iweala, a Nigerian, as director-general of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), who are currently projecting the image of Africa on the global scene.
Many things have also changed within. BusinessDay has since migrated from a then weekly publication to a daily publication, and today it is accessible through print, online, and mobile. And we have led some of those changes.
BusinessDay has always sought to provide contexts and empower you, our reader, with the information required to make your business decisions.
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