We’ll keep track of our award recipients- Publisher

The Publisher of The Daily Times of Nigeria (DTN), Mr. Fidelis Anosike, has promised that every recipient of The Daily Times Heroes awards today (Tuesday) will perpetually be under the radar of the newspaper house with the aim of ensuring that they continue to walk by the principles for which they merited the award.

According to him, the essence of the award is to institutionalise a reward system, adding that though the company may not get it right 100 per cent at the beginning, “but at the end of the day, once we put our foot forward and begin to get opinions of people, we will definitely make it better. So, it becomes revolving and it is going to be better each time.

“We can also track awardees, because anybody we give an award will be under our tracking system and we can withdraw the award in the course of your life. What it means is that once you receive our award, you are now in our purview. We will track the awardees and support them in the course of their works,” he added.

Speaking about people who are always in the habit of criticising media awards, Anosike said: “People will always criticise their fellow human beings. People will always try to stop what other people are doing. So, what is the alternative; do nothing? No, you must have to be true to what you believe.

“Once you believe in something, once you know and understand the fact that you know what you are doing in terms of trying to push the ethos of the organisation, you will certainly be true to your cause.”

Describing The Daily Times as an independent newspaper that has inspired and keeps inspiring generations of Nigerians, Anosike said the company picked the awardees based on the impact that they have made on society and their level of contribution to the development of the nation and Africa.

He said: “The Daily Times is the independent newspaper of Nigeria. It was founded 91 years ago and the last time we did award was 20 years ago. We have looked at what is happening all around us and we try to create an award system that focuses on impact. The criteria borders on what you are doing in your own little way that impacts on more people than normal.

“So, the criteria is impact. There are so many diverse areas of life that you can choose from, but when you take one action, you have taken what goes beyond yourself and your immediate family, that affects the majority of the people, then we will begin to talk of The Daily Times Awards.”