List of Newspapers in Nigeria (Continuation)

Keeping close to the happenings in and outside our environment is very important and one of the means by which we achieve that is through the Newspapers. Like any other country, Nigeria has a good number of Newspapers that covers issues such as politics, entertainment, fashion, business, technology, etc.

We are continuing the short analysis of these newspapers. If you have missed the previous list of Nigerian Newspapers, you can find it here. To continue from where we stopped, below are the remaining list of Newspapers in Nigeria and where to locate them online.

Nigerian Cultural group at the Calabar Carnival

The Nation – This is a daily newspaper that also base in Lagos. According to a 2009 survey it was the second most read newspaper in Nigeria. The paper’s website says it stands for Freedom, Justice and the Market Economy. Its target audience is the business and political elite, the affluent, the educated and the upwardly mobile. 

The Nation has printing plants in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt. The newspaper covers business and economy, public policies, the democratic process and institutions of democracy, sports, arts and culture.

In April 2010 Edo Ugbagwu, a reporter who covered court cases for The Nation, was killed by gunmen. The reason was not known but not hard to imagine. Good website but terrible domain name – thenationonlineng.net

National Mirror – The National Mirror was founded by Prince Emeka Obasi in 2006. Editions include the Daily Mirror, Saturday Mirror and Sunday Mirror. In August 2008 Barrister Jimoh Ibrahim acquired 100% of the shares of the National Mirror. 

On 5 May 2010 Global Media Mirror Limited, publishers of National Mirror, took over Newswatch Communications Limited, publishers of Newswatch weekly news magazine.

News Watch – Published by Jimoh Ibrahim and founded in 1984 by Dele Giwa, Ray Ekpu, Dan Agbese and Yakubu Mohammed.Their website was under construction as at the last time I visited.

Next Newspaper – This Newspaper seems to be be in problem right now. They have stopped printing and when I checked the website 234Next.com it was unavailable. I went further to check the domain name and it is currently pending delete! Massive problem if you ask me. 

Next is published by Timbuktu Media group, which was founded by Pulitzer Prize winning writer Dele Olojede in 2004. The group is based in Lagos, Nigeria and South Africa and is involved in publishing, printing and broadcasting. 

Other Timbuktu Media publications are NEXT on Sunday, Elan (a fashion glossy), X2 and the website 234NEXT.com. Olojede is a former staffer on New York’s Newsday who won a Pulitzer prize for a report on the Rwandan genocide. He was a co-founder of the Nigerian Newswatch magazine in the mid-1980s.

Nigerian Observer – This is one o the few newspapers that is based outside Lagos. Nigerian Observer is published in Benin City, Edo State. In 1973, a correspondent for the Nigerian Observer wrote an article about an impending teacher’s strike in Rivers State, which was published on the Governor Alfred Diete-Spiff’s birthday. 

Taking this as a deliberate insult, Diete-Spiff’s aide Ralph Iwowari had the reporter’s head publicly shaved and had him beaten with 24 lashes of a cane. At that time the Nigerian Observer was owned by Bendel State, the predecessor of Edo State. The Rivers State newspaper the Nigerian Tide did not mention the conflict with the teachers.


Nigerian Tribune – Published in Ibadan and founded by Obafemi Awolowo. In the colonial era, the newspaper served as the mouthpiece for Awolowo’s populist welfare programs. It also played an important role in defending the interests of the Yoruba people in a period when different ethnic groups were struggling for ascendancy. 

From independence in 1960 until the 1990s most publications were government-owned, but private papers such as the Nigerian Tribune, The Punch, Vanguard and the Guardian continued to expose public and private scandals despite government attempts at suppression. 

General Ibrahim Babangida once said that of all the Nigerian newspapers he would only read and take seriously the Nigerian Tribune’s editorial column

Osun Defender – The Osun Defender is a privately owned tabloid newspaper that publishes news about Osun State, Nigeria, as well as national and other news. It is published by Moremi Publishing House Ltd, of Osogbo, Osun State. Kola Olabisi is the managing editor. The Osun Defender claims to have the sixth most visited newspaper website in Nigeria. The newspaper has traditionally been the voice of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) political party.

During the April 2007 elections, an attempt was made to assassinate Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola, the ACN candidate for governor. Kola Olabisi, editor of the Osun Defender, almost died when a bullet passed through his dress without harming him. On 14 May 2007 the newspaper published a story with title “Osun Police Arrest 764 Over Election Protest”, discussing a news conference by activist Amitolu Shittu where he discussed the trial of demonstrators protesting what they said was rigging of the 14 April presidential election.

Shittu accused the Judge of releasing demonstrators in return for bribes. The judge promptly issued arrest warrants for Shittu, the reporter who wrote the article and managing editor Kola Olabisi, all of whom went into hiding

P.M. News – P.M. News is a daily newspaper published in Lagos, Nigeria by the Independent Communications Network Limited (ICNL). The company also publishes the weekly TheNEWS magazine and Tempo, a tabloid.

The News was founded in 1993 by Bayo Onanuga, Babafemi Ojudu and other former staff from the African Concord who had resigned in protest over a request by M.K.O. Abiola, the publisher, to apologise to President Ibrahim Babangida over a critical story about the military regime. Ojudu was the first Managing Editor. 

After harassment by the Ibrahim Babangida regime, there was a brief period of press freedom under General Sani Abacha during which P.M. News was launched in August 1994 as a breezy afternoon paper strongly oriented towards news but also covering fashions, sports and entertainment

Peoples Daily – This Nigerian newspaper has a conflicting name with another newspaper in China. Peoples Daily is a newspaper in Nigeria. It was launched as a weekly in November 2008, and became a daily in November 2009. The Peoples Daily was formally presented at a ceremony in Abuja in March 2010. Chairman of the Board of Directors is Malam Wada Abdullahi Maida. At the ceremony, Malam Ismaila Isa made it clear that, despite rumour, Peoples Daily was not owned by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar. The company was owned by over 40 media professionals.

In December 2009 agents of the State Security Service arrested the paper’s editor, Malam Ahmed Shekarau, apparently due to a report on the health of ailing President Umaru Yar’Adua

Port Harcourt Telegraph – This paper is published by Prince Ogbonna Nwuke. It was established in 1999 and circulate throughout Niger Delta Region. The website address PHCTelegraphNews.com is currently a parked domain name.