Daily Times wins NUJ Press Freedom award

Tom Okpe, Abuja

The Daily Times, Nigeria’s heritage media brand, has won the Nigeria Union of Journalists’ Press Freedom award for the year 2019.

The award, which was presented on Monday night at the Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Abuja, recognises the exemplary commitment of The Daily Times to press freedom in Nigeria.

Receiving the award, Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of The Daily Times, Aliu Akoshile, expressed appreciation to the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).

He said the award, for which The Daily Times is the sole winner in the print category, will spur journalists working for the news platform to show greater commitment to press freedom.

Akoshile, who noted that the award was highly cherished, said the fact that it was given by the main professional association of journalists in Nigeria makes it gratifying.

The Daily Times, Nigeria’s oldest newspaper, commenced publication in 1926 having been founded a year earlier by private entrepreneurs.

The newspaper was however taken over by the military government in 1975 and was published by the Federal Government for many years.

In 2004, The Daily Times was sold to Folio Communications Limited, now Folio Communications Plc, through a transparent bidding process conducted by the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) under the privatisation processes which was supervised by the National Council on Privatisation (NCP).