+ Our goal is to become Muslim News Agency
Muslim News Nigeria, the most authoritative Islamic Newspaper in Nigeria has clocked five years of reporting Islam and Muslims in Nigeria and across the world.
To celebrate the milestone, the management plans to organise its annual anniversary lecture, which will seek to proffer solutions to challenges facing Islam and the Nigerian Muslims in this information and technology era.
The anniversary lecture slated for a yet-to-be-disclosed date in October 2023 will be the 5th annual “Islam and Media series” to be organised by the media organisation.
In a release, issued on Wednesday, September 6, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Rawshield PR Media, the publishers of Muslim News Nigeria, Alhaji Rasheed Abubakar said the previous annual lectures were largely funded from adverts and other activities of the organisation.
He therefore called on individuals; public and private to support with a view of ensuring the success of the event, which will also feature the Global and Nigerian Muslim Personalities of the Year Awards, tagged; ‘#MNAwards2022‘.
“We are seeking support and partnership from people and organisations in staging Series 5 of the anniversary lecture and awards presentation which is slated for October. So, we need support to continue the good work. We will also appreciate volunteers, such as writers and editors.
“Usually, our awards’ presentation goes with an anniversary lecture. In 2021, we held a virtual anniversary lecture during the COVID-19 pandemic. It featured a Turkish professor, an Al-Jazeera reporter, top Muslim scholars and journalists in Nigeria.
“The anniversary lecture for 2022 featured former Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Pantami; Islam Channel’s CEO, Mohamed Harrath from the UK and a veteran journalist, Alhaji Femi Abbas. The details of this year’s event will be unveiled later”, he said.
Our goal is to become Islamic news agency for Nigerian Muslims
According to Abubakar, it is indeed an honour to champion the creation of an alternative media platform, which is dedicated to reporting Islam and Muslims.
He noted that the goal of the medium is to become an Islamic news agency in the coming years, where the mainstream media would subscribe for original Islamic contents, particularly in Nigeria.
Abubakar thanked Allah for the gift of life, Who favoured him and his team with the task of championing the uneasy task of reporting the underreported Muslims and Islam.
“Sincerely speaking, Allah has always been there for us. He has been directing this cause, sending kind-hearted people to support it.
“It’s really amazing that what we started in a very small way five years ago is being celebrated today. It’s been five solid years of reporting Islam without financial backup in a country, particularly operating in Nigeria where people barely read newspapers. To do that for five years, nonstop, is indeed a huge feat. I pray Allah accepts the effort from me and my team, including the volunteer group as well as our supporters. May Allah reward everyone abundantly.”
How Amasa’s call-to-bar ordeal birthed Muslim News Nigeria
The founder disclosed that the call-to-bar ordeal of Sister Firdaus Amasa inspired the establishment of Muslim News Nigeria in August 2018, especially when he realised that the story was being unfairly reported in the conventional media.
While the publisher had previously been involved in regular newspaper analysis on social media — a routine activity that exposes media biases against Islam and Muslims – the analyses were being done during the period he was recuperating from an accident he had in 2015.
“I was involved in an auto crash in 2015. In 2016/2017, I was still recuperating at home. During these periods, I started writing weekly religious column for Daily Independent, which I still do. On most occasions, I did newspaper reviews and content analysis of how various Nigerian media outfits reported Islam.
“When Firdaus Amasa was prevented from being called to the bar because of her insistence on not removing her hijab in 2017, I observed that a lot of media reported it negatively. It was a total media bashing for her. I tried my best possible as a content analyst to expose the hypocrisy and bias of the media. Some of my friends who are also journalists said I should go and have my own media outfit and do whatever I want with it. Well, their criticism didn’t stop me from doing the analysis.
“A year later, Amasa was called to bar with her hijab despite massive media onslaught against her. People really stood up for her because of her resoluteness. Her victory was also under-reported. I decided to call them out again as usual. I did another analysis and review. They were visibly angry that I pointed out their bias and they told me derisively to go and start my own media outfit.
“I thought about it and felt there was really no big deal in taking up the challenge. I spoke with a couple of brethren and we came up with something. We released the first print edition of Muslim News to commemorate Amasa’s victory. At the time, we resolved to tentatively name it Muslim News and find another name after the first publication. The first edition, 12 pages, featured Firdaus Amasa’s hijab saga from beginning to the end. We then felt the need to produce an online edition. By September of the same year, we went online with muslimnews.com.ng.”
Formation of the name, Muslim News Nigeria
Speaking on how he came about the name Muslim News Nigeria, Abubakar noted that it was a tentative name that would later be retained following its wide acceptance.
He said their findings during the formative days of the medium indicated that Muslim News existed in a number of countries including the UK and Canada.
“When we started, we hadn’t really got a name for the medium. But I felt since it’s a Muslim publication, we should name it Muslim News tentatively for the first publication. So, after the publication and a lot of people across Nigeria received copies for free, we advanced online. We made findings about the name (Muslim News) and saw that it was already in use. In fact, there were so many platforms already named Muslim News. We saw Muslim News UK, Muslim News Canada, among others. A couple of countries had their own Muslim News. Interestingly, there was no Muslim News Nigeria.
“I did istikhaarah to seek Allah’s guidance over the name and I think we’ve got the right name. So, we did all the necessary documentations. Muslim News Nigeria was registered as a subsidiary of Rawshield PR Media with the CAC and got an ISSN with the National Library. We created a Wikipedia page and an app on Google Play Store.
“When we opened the Twitter handle, we got followership instantly. The name stands unique. Muslims in India, Pakistan, Qatar, UK, Turkiye and other parts of the world wanted to know the affairs of Muslims and Islam in Nigeria. Muslim News Nigeria represents that.
“For the Facebook page, when we started, we first adopted Rawshield PR Media Facebook page to promote Muslim News reportage. The followership was less than 5,000 after several months. Upon opening a unique page for Muslim News Nigeria, it attracted over 10,000 followers within a month. Today, we have over 98,000. On Twitter, we have over 23,000 followers and still counting because of the quality and originality of our stories which stand us out.
“Our operating base is in Lagos but in the last five years, we have been able to spread our tentacles across the country and our presence is being felt beyond. I have lost count of thousands of reports that have been done in the interest of Muslims. Our newspaper edition is now in 16 pages. We serve as the mouthpiece of Muslims in the country.
“Muslim News was enlisted in the media team that covered the 2022 and 2023 Hajj by the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON). Also, when our Muslim Brothers were being attacked and killed in the South-South and Southeast, the media underplayed it. But we were there for our brothers and sisters. We did series of reports. The originality of our reports stands us out. We generate stories ideas on a daily basis and work towards their realization.”
Celebration of Muslim personalities
Alhaji Abubakar noted that the introduction of the annual awards of excellence which celebrates Nigerian and global Muslim personalities in different professions and disciplines has also given international prominence to the medium.
In his words, “We started recognising distinguished Muslim personalities in 2018, about the same time we established the newspaper. We felt reporting about Islam and the affairs of the Muslims would not be enough. There was also the need to celebrate Muslim achievers who were doing well in their various professions but weren’t getting due recognition in the media. So we decided to celebrate them. So far, it has been impressive and remains accepted within and beyond Nigeria.
“For the Nigerian category, we’ve had the Sultan of Sokoto Alhaji Muhammad Abubakar Sa’ad III (2018); Borno State Governor Professor Babagana Zulum (2019); the immediate past Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Ali Pantami (2020); Hijab Advocates (2021) as Nigerian Muslim Personalities of the Year. This year 20223, we would have the 2022 edition of the awards.
“As for the global category, while Turkiye President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan emerged winner for three consecutive years (2018, 2019, 2020), the Emir of Qatar was named as the winner in the 2021 edition. We have also extended our awards of excellence to personalities like Mohamed Ali Harrath, founder of Islam Channel UK; Rana Ayyub, Indian Journalist; Rabia Chaudry, Pakistani-American lawyer, author and podcast host, among others for championing human rights advocacies.”
Call for support to continue the good work
The Rawshield PR Media CEO thereby called for the support and partnership of individuals and organisations to consolidate the good work the medium is doing for the ummah.
He said though Allah has been the major sustainer of the effort, regular advert placements from MTN for the print edition has remained another source of sustenance.
“Initially, we started distributing copies of the newspapers to vendors in Lagos and some states as a member of newspaper distribution of Nigerian, but we had to stop the practice due to low patronage. Most times, copies would be sold but the money won’t be returned. Later, we started targeting Islamic events, Juma’at centres but most times too, the sales were still not encouraging.
“But when we started free distribution through sponsorship from some philanthropists, the demand soared. People really love freebies. We began to do free distribution of our print edition, including the hajj edition, at different fora, for free. What this has, however, done for us is that we were able to spread our tentacles. People have known Muslim News better. We have distributed in Lagos, Abuja, Kaduna, Kano, Kwara, among other states,” he added.
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