This Day Newspaper

The beginning…

THISDAY is published by THISDAY Newspapers Limited. It hit newsstands on January 22, 1995 and quickly carved out a niche for itself in business and political reporting and for breaking big news stories. It soon became Nigeria’s newspaper of record.

In its first years of publication, THISDAY won the Newspaper of the Year Award for three consecutive years. In 1997 THISDAY also became the first Nigerian newspaper to introduce full colour printing. It now has printing plants in Lagos, Abuja and in the Niger Delta.

Where we are…

Today THISDAY remains the preferred newspaper among the business, political and diplomatic elite, and is easily the most recognisable and influential national media brand globally. It is also the corporate and political advertiser’s first choice. THISDAY is the only high profile newspaper that appeals to both young and old because of its straightforward news reporting, strong editorial content, lifestyle features and business coverage.

THISDAY breaks the news first: from the story of the first arrests over the 1995 coup which lead to the imprisonment of Olusegun Obasanjo and the late Shehu Musa Yar’Adua; the death of Nigeria’s first president, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, which all other media missed; to the newspaper’s exclusive on the recovery of the Abacha billions and several more, day after day. In line with its avowed commitment to democracy, THISDAY was at the forefront of the battle against dictatorial military rule for which its reporters were invariably detained and harassed. The Chairman and Editor-in-Chief was detained in 1997 at the Department of Military Intelligence (DMI) for seven days under Abacha. The Chairman later went into self-exile.

For many Nigerians, if the news is not in THISDAY, then it is not credible.

THISDAY is an agent of change and innovation within the industry and many of its ‘firsts’ are serially copied by others, such as the back page sports with advertising and back page opinions, an all-gloss Sunday magazine and wraparounds.

Most recently, THISDAY launched ARISE, the global style and culture magazine. The debut issue was given away at THISDAY’s Africa Rising concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall in October 2008 and was so well received that the second issue officially launched on newsstands in February 2009. It is now sold in several countries around the world.

The company’s major events centre, the THISDAY DOME in Abuja’s Central Business District, is where the annual THISDAY Awards for Excellence are held and also plays host to several events for the Nigerian society and intelligencia.

The THISDAY Annual Awards for Excellence has attracted several world leaders and statesmen including former US Presidents, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, former Mexican President, Vicente Fox and former UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan. It has also hosted the former United Kingdom Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown along with former Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard. Former US Secretaries of State Condoleezza Rice, Henry Kissinger and General Colin Powell have also participated along with other international dignitaries including the former German Chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder, the former Prime Minister of France, Dominique de Villepin, former Irish Prime Minister, Bertie Ahern and Harvard Professor Larry Summers, a former Economic Adviser to President Obama, former World Bank President James Wolfhensoln and Steve Forbes, the publisher of Forbes magazine. Other keynote speakers have included prominent Washington insiders and analysts, like Andrew Card, William Kristol, Karl Rove, Paul Begala, Howard Dean, Donna Brazille, and Paula Zahn.

Through its publications, business events, cultural showcases and festivals, THISDAY is a player on the global stage by bringing the world to Nigeria and taking Nigeria to the world.

Where we are headed…

THISDAY believes in its editorial values and is fast becoming a global media player pursuing, with vigour its vision of the world seen from an African perspective.

LEADERSHIP TEAM

Nduka Obaigbena

Chairman / Chief Executive Officer / Editor-in-Chief

THISDAY Editor-in-Chief and Chairman Nduka Obaigbena, attended the prestigious Edo College, Benin City, and the University of Benin where he took an honours degree in Creative Arts. He has since attended several professional and management courses in Nigeria, the United Kingdom and the United States. He also attended the Graduate School of Business at the University of Witswatersrand and the University of Cape Town, South Africa for an Advanced Management programme. Obaigbena started his journalism career at the Nigerian Observer in 1978 as a satirist, writer and cartoonist, and later became co-ordinating Editor of The Dawn monthly magazine. He later left for the UK where he worked with advertising agency NAL even while he was a media specialist consultant with Michael Jarvis and Partners. He had a brief stint with Newsweek Magazine in 1984 as a Special Section Representative before moving over the same year to TIME Magazine where he helped develop Special Surveys and Country Sections. He was later appointed TIME Magazine Representative for English-speaking sub-Saharan Africa. He developed several Country Sections for TIME Magazine in Nigeria, Kenya, Morocco and Zimbabwe during this time. He became founding Editor-in-Chief of THISWEEK magazine in 1987 and in 1991 ran for the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. In 1994, he was elected a member of the Constitutional Conference, which drafted the current Nigerian Constitution. He began the publication of THISDAY Newspapers in 1995. In 1990, Obaigbena played a crucial role in events leading up to the privatisation of the Nigerian National Shipping Lines, and the commercialisation of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (including the Voice of Nigeria, VON). He was appointed a member of the Delta State Government Think -Tank that wrote the blueprint for the economic revitalisation of Delta State (The Niger Delta) where most of Nigeria’s oil is produced. He was Convener of the Nigeria Investment Summit along with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (Programme of Seminars) in 1997 and 1999 in Washington, DC. Obaigbena has been a keynote speaker at several national and international fora, including the World Bank and IMF-sponsored Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper Conferences in Dakar, Senegal and Washington DC. In 2002, he was appointed Chairman of Cross Debts Sub-Committee on 20 Federal Government agencies being prepared for privatisation, including the National Power Company, Nigerian Electric Power Authority, Benue Cement Company, Gboko, Sokoto Cement Company and the Nigerian Cement Company, Nkalagu among several others. He then worked with the main committee in creating a Cross Debt Matrix for all Federal Government agencies, including the National Oil Company, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and several oil majors. He was also a member of the Ministerial Committee on Aviation. He has founded several cultural initiatives around the world including the THISDAY Music and Fashion Festival, now in its 4th year, The African Fashion Collective of the New York Fashion Week, as well as in London, Paris and Milan Fashion Week. He recently founded ARISE Magazine, an African culture and style magazine, sold in 150 countries. The magazine has just hosted The ARISE AFRICA FASHION week in Johannesburg, South Africa. Obaigbena is also founder of THISDAY Awards now in its 15th year, showcasing the best and the brightest of corporate Nigeria, while promoting good governance. In 2007, he hosted a ‘Nigeria Meets the World’ summit in New York with several governmental leaders including President Umaru Musa Yar’adua meeting with opinion leaders from around the world. A highly respected media mogul, Obaigbena was co-chair of Africa Media Leaders Summit in Dakar, Senegal last year and is a member of the Nominating Committee of the Young Global Leaders Forum in Davos, Switzerland where he regularly attends and moderates sessions with world leaders for the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland; Dalian, China; and Cape Town, South Africa. He serves on several international boards and committees including The Cecelia Attias Foundation for Women founded by the former first lady of France to assist women foundations around the world. Obaigbena is chairman of THISDAY Group and Publisher of ARISE Magazine. He is also publisher of AFRICAN MARKETS magazine – an IMF/WORLD BANK Annual Meetings publication. He is a collector of fine art and a public affairs commentator.