By: Emmanuel Abi Couson
The prices of newspapers in Nigeria will increase with effect from January 2, 2024.
This is according to the Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria (NPAN), the umbrella body of all newspapers in Nigeria.
In a statement by NPAN’s executive secretary, Mr. Feyi Smith, the decision to increase the cover prices became inevitable owing to rising production costs.
The statement said: “With effect from January 2, 2024, members of the Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria (NPAN), will effect changes in the cover prices of their newspaper titles.
“Our association took this difficult decision after a careful review of the current economic situation and our members’ production costs.
“In the last few years, inflation and the devaluation of the Naira have had very serious negative effects on our members’ production costs, and eaten deeply into their profit margins.
“Nevertheless, our members retained the current cover prices for over four years, while inflation more than doubled within the same period.
“We acknowledge that the negative effects of the tough economic climate are felt by our readers. It is for this reason that publishers have borne the brunt of high production costs in the last four years without adjusting cover prices.
“We hope that this price increase would meet with the understanding of our readers, even as we continue to do our best to take advantage of technology and better collaboration among publishers to improve the quality of our products.”
