Late January 2013, I was working somewhere I used to get to work really early. Started spending 15-30mins each morning reading Nigerian newspapers. Then I started sharing some stories to twitter
Found that people were reading and engaging. So it became a regular thing. Eventually someone told me about Buffer to make it easier to share the stories with a comment. And that’s how Paper Review was born in a nutshell
Reading Nigerian newspapers daily provided some useful insights when taken over time. Like one of my faves - cost of buying babies never went up. It’s always been under N400k even with at least 4 devaluations
I also found that the ‘ordinary’ stories about crime etc were far more interesting than the rubbish stories about politics that dominate Nigerian news. They help to build a tapestry of what Nigerian life is like in the 21st century. Much of it not very pretty
In the last 6yrs, I’ve done the paper review from different cities and places. One time I got off a plane at Heathrow, quickly collected my bags and found a place to open my laptop to do the paper review ...hehe.
When the clocks go forward in Spring, I switch to scheduling them 1hr ahead. In winter when the clocks go back, I do it ‘live’. Either way, I have to do it at the same time here and leave home for work
This year was a bit tough. We didn’t have a nanny for about 4mths so I was often shuttling between the bathroom giving the kids a bath. Or making a snarky comment about Nigerian politics while applying moisturiser to one of my boys
But the highest benefits accrued to me. I spent 30mins doing it each meaning and then another 20mins reading and replying to the comments. Those replies were like wildcatting and I struck oil almost daily.
The nature of the Nigerian media is that the stories are NEVER complete and often outright wrong. But there was always someone - either in the replies or my DMs or Whatsapp - who would illuminate a story with some insight
As I’m not ‘on ground’, that feedback was always invaluable. By the time you take it and add it to the original story, you get a fuller picture and see clearly where the gaps are.
Finally, it also helped to give some kind of long term view of Nigeria. Hardly anything happens suddenly. It’s always there happening, slowly under the surface - like cults and hands in Lagos - and then suddenly it’s a ‘surprise’. And so it goes
Anyway, it’s been real. Thank you all for reading (some of you since the very beginning). Especially for the insight you provided.
Today was the last one. We shall continue to engage in 2019 albeit in a different, as yet unknown, way.
Today was the last one. We shall continue to engage in 2019 albeit in a different, as yet unknown, way.
