From a four-page colonial newspaper to a leading voice, Daily Times has spent a century at journalism intersection, politics, business and national memory. Its rise, domination, government takeover, decline, privatisation,
From a four-page colonial newspaper to a leading voice, Daily Times has spent a century at journalism intersection, politics, business and national memory. Its rise, domination, government takeover, decline, privatisation, controversies and attempted revival mirror the story of Nigeria itself, writes Sunday Ehigiator
When the first edition of the Nigerian Daily Times (DTN) appeared in Lagos on June 1, 1926, Nigeria was still a British colony, and the idea of an independent Nigerian state belonged largely to the future. A century later, the newspaper is still here. That simple fact is remarkable.
Daily Times has lived through colonial rule, the nationalist struggle, independence, the First Republic, two military coups in 1966, the Nigerian Civil War, successive military regimes, the oil boom, the Second Republic, the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, the Abacha years, the return to democracy in 1999, privatisation, economic upheaval and the digital revolution that has fundamentally altered the newspaper business.
Few Nigerian institutions can claim such a continuous relationship with the country’s public record.
At its zenith, Daily Times was a publishing empire, a training ground, a commercial powerhouse, a generator of public opinion and, for generations of Nigerians, an indispensable part of everyday life.
The newspaper’s centenary in 2026 therefore represents an opportunity to examine how an institution born in colonial Lagos became one of the most influential media organisations in Africa, why it subsequently lost much of its dominance, and whether its present owners can successfully translate its enormous historical capital into relevance for another century.
The Centenary theme
The centenary theme, ‘100 Years of Fearless Journalism, Championing the Future, 1926-2026’ captures that tension between heritage and reinvention.
At a June 1, 2026 media briefing in Abuja, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief, Fidelis Anosike, described the newspaper as a witness to Nigeria’s political, economic and social evolution. He said its centenary was a milestone not only for the publication but for Nigerian journalism and the country’s development.
Colonial Lagos and the birth of DTN
The corporate history of Daily Times reaches back to June 6, 1925, when the Nigerian Printing and Publishing Company was incorporated by Richard Barrow, Adeyemo Alakija, V. R. Osborne and others. The newspaper itself came into existence the following year.
On June 1, 1926, the company published the first edition of the Nigerian Daily Times, a modest four-page newspaper in Lagos. Ernest Sesei Ikoli became its pioneer editor.
Ikoli’s appointment was significant because the newspaper was being created in a colonial environment in which newspapers were already becoming important instruments of political mobilisation and intellectual debate.
The early Daily Times initially pursued a relatively detached editorial position, with considerable attention to business, commerce and issues concerning Nigeria’s development. It soon attracted advertising from foreign companies operating in the colony, giving it an important commercial base. But its influence could not remain confined to commerce.
By the 1930s, education and the question of how Nigeria should develop had become important editorial subjects. The newspaper criticised aspects of colonial educational policy and advocated greater opportunities for Nigerians.
The rise of nationalist newspapers, particularly Nnamdi Azikiwe’s West African Pilot from 1937, forced established newspapers to compete in a rapidly changing political environment.
The Daily Times responded by strengthening its editorial operations and bringing in additional capital and personnel. Its history was already becoming intertwined with the evolution of Nigerian nationalism.
The Mirror years
A decisive turning point came in 1935 when R. B. Paul acquired the newspaper. Another transformation followed in 1947, when the London-based Daily Mirror Group, headed by Cecil King, bought the Daily Times and other West African publications.
The new ownership brought capital, technology and a more sophisticated approach to mass-market journalism.
The organisation introduced modern printing equipment and production techniques, including a privately owned rotary printing press, photo-engraving and improved typesetting and typecasting facilities. It also embraced a more accessible style of newspaper writing, using shorter paragraphs, photographs, illustrations and human-interest stories.
The result was a spectacular growth. Circulation reportedly rose from about 25,000 copies daily in 1950 to 95,000 in 1959. The newspaper was no longer merely reporting the changing country. It was becoming one of the institutions helping to shape it.
Ernest Ikoli and Other Pioneering Editors
The history of Daily Times is inseparable from the succession of editors who gave the newspaper its voice. Ikoli was followed by editors including Adeleye Titcombe, Ayodele Lijadu, J. S. Ogunlesi, Joseph Oloyede, Ebun Adesioye and Gabriel Idigo.
J. S. Ogunlesi is particularly remembered as the first graduate to edit the newspaper. Then came the man who would become synonymous with the golden age of Daily Times: Ismail Babatunde Jose.
The long list of editors is itself an indication of the institution’s importance. According to a historical account tracing the newspaper’s editorial succession, editors before Onyema Ugochukwu included Ikoli, Titcombe, Lijadu, Ogunlesi, Oloyede, Adesioye, Idigo, Jose, Peter Enahoro, Alade Odunewu, Henry Odukomaiya, Areoye Oyebola, Segun Osoba, Tony Momoh, Martin Iroabuchi and Farouk Umar Mohammed. But no discussion of Daily Times’ editorial history can adequately begin or end without Jose.
Babatunde Jose: The architect of the Times empire
Jose joined Daily Times in 1941 as a technical trainee. He moved through the newsroom and eventually became editor in 1957.
His rise represented something bigger than personal advancement. It demonstrated the growing Africanisation of an institution that had initially emerged from colonial commercial interests.
Jose became managing director in 1962 and chairman in 1968. In 1963, the then flagship newspaper adopted the name Daily Times Nigeria. Under Jose, the newspaper developed an extraordinary publishing ecosystem. He understood that a newspaper could be more than one daily title. It could become a media group serving different audiences, interests and markets. The result was a stable that eventually included newspapers, magazines, directories, specialist publications and weekend titles.
Among the publications associated with the group were Sunday Times, Evening Times, Who’s Who, Sporting Record, Spear, Woman’s World, Lagos Weekend, Trade and Industry Directory, Headlines, Times Home Studies, Business Times, Fun Times, Times International, Poise, Timesweek, Saturday Times and Abuja Times.
At its height, the organisation had more than 20 titles in its stable. That was not simply an expansion of newspaper products. It was the construction of a Nigerian media institution.
Journalism as a profession
Perhaps Jose’s most enduring contribution was not a particular headline or publication. It was people. He recruited young graduates, trained them and gave them room to develop as reporters, editors and columnists.
In 1965, he established the Times Journalism Institute, which became one of the important training grounds for Nigerian journalists.
The list of journalists who passed through the Daily Times ecosystem reads almost like a who’s who of Nigerian journalism. They included Tony Momoh, Patrick Dele Cole, Stanley Macebuh, Alade Odunewu, Segun Osoba, Tola Adeniyi, Gbolabo Ogunsanwo, Dele Giwa, Ray Ekpu and Lade Bonuola, among many others.
The importance of this network is difficult to quantify. Journalists trained at Daily Times subsequently spread across Nigeria’s media industry, carrying with them professional habits, newsroom traditions and editorial standards acquired in the Times environment.
The newspaper consequently became not merely a publisher of journalism but a producer of journalists. Safe to say that Daily Times birthed the pluralisation of professional journalists in Nigeria, which we all enjoy today. That may ultimately be one of its greatest contributions to Nigerian journalism.
The newspaper that created newspapers
The Times’ philosophy of diversification was evident in the breadth of its titles.
Sunday Times, launched in 1953, pioneered Sunday newspaper publishing in Nigeria and developed a style different from the hard-news orientation of the daily.
Evening Times, launched in 1955, was conceived partly around the everyday experience of Lagos commuters. Its reporters worked at police stations, magistrates’ courts and hospitals, providing a publication designed to meet the information and entertainment needs of workers returning home.
Sporting Record catered to sports enthusiasts and betting audiences. Spear competed in the popular magazine market. Woman’s World addressed an increasingly educated and sophisticated female readership. Lagos Weekend became a training ground as well as a publication. Business Times addressed the expanding interest in business, finance, markets and ownership. Times International, Timesweek, Poise, Fun Times, Abuja Times and other publications further extended the group’s reach.
The breadth of the stable demonstrated an understanding of media economics that remains relevant today: audiences are not one homogeneous mass, and a strong media organisation must develop products for distinct communities.
** The Miss Nigeria phenomenon**
The Times empire also understood the power of popular culture. In 1957, the newspaper organised the first Miss Nigeria beauty pageant.
The competition became one of the country’s most prominent popular-cultural institutions for decades. Rosemary Anieze, winner of the 1960 contest, was subsequently associated with the title “Miss Independence”, linking the pageant to the mood surrounding Nigeria’s attainment of independence.
This was a powerful example of the newspaper’s ability to move beyond political reporting into culture, entertainment and national identity.
Independence and the newspaper of record
The 1950s were the decade in which the Daily Times consolidated its position as a major Nigerian institution. As the country moved towards independence, newspapers became critical instruments for political education and mobilisation.
The Daily Times reported the constitutional conferences, political disagreements, nationalist campaigns and negotiations that eventually culminated in independence on October 1, 1960. Its pages became a running documentary record of the transformation from colony to independent nation.
This is one reason the preservation of its archives matters so much. A newspaper archive is not merely a collection of old papers. It contains the daily evidence of how a society understood itself at different points in history.
The official Daily Times account describes its library and archives as the largest collection and repository of journalism materials in Africa south of the Sahara, with digitisation efforts underway since 2012. If successfully digitised and made accessible, the collection could become one of Nigeria’s most valuable research resources.
The 1970s circulation strength
By the 1970s, Daily Times had reached extraordinary commercial and editorial strength. Its daily circulation reportedly reached about 275,000 copies in 1975, while Sunday Times reached approximately 400,000. Those figures represented a level of mass readership that few Nigerian newspapers have subsequently matched.
The organisation had become one of the most successful locally owned businesses in Africa. Its influence extended beyond journalism into the commercial and cultural life of the country. But the very scale that made the newspaper powerful also made it politically significant. And that would become its greatest vulnerability.
** The government takeover**
On September 1, 1975, the Federal Military Government acquired a controlling interest in Daily Times and also took control of its major rival, New Nigerian Newspapers.
The government publicly insisted that the acquisition would not compromise editorial independence and declared its support for press freedom. But the takeover was widely viewed as a mechanism through which the military government could reduce criticism from powerful newspapers.
Historical accounts describe the acquisition as controversial precisely because ownership by the state inevitably raised questions about editorial independence. The government subsequently increased its control, eventually assuming total ownership.
For a newspaper whose influence had been built partly on its authority and independence, this was a fundamental institutional change. In March 1976, Jose was forced out. The golden era was beginning to give way to a more complicated chapter.
The paradox of state ownership
State ownership did not instantly destroy Daily Times. The newspaper retained talented journalists and continued to exercise considerable influence. Indeed, some of its most important journalism occurred during the period of government ownership.
But the structural problem was obvious. A newspaper owned by government was expected to scrutinise the government. The conflict was built into the ownership structure.
However, at different times, the paper demonstrated that professional journalism could survive even within that contradiction.
One example was the Evening News libel case involving Chief Rotimi Williams after the newspaper published a report about a lawsuit against him. Williams successfully sued the government-owned newspaper.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Daily Times also published editorials criticising corruption, indiscipline and the decline of public morality. In 1983, for example, an editorial condemned what it described as alarming levels of corruption, bribery, indiscipline, immorality, cheating, drug addiction, armed robbery, smuggling and other social ills.
That contradiction, a government-owned newspaper criticising government and society, became one of the most fascinating aspects of its history.
Tony Momoh and the battle for press freedom
One of the most significant episodes in the history of Daily Times’ relationship with power involved Tony Momoh.
Momoh became editor in 1976. In 1981, he was summoned before the Senate, then headed by the President of the Senate, Joseph Wayas, over allegations of contempt. Rather than simply submit to pressure, Momoh defended the newspaper’s right to protect its sources.
The episode became ‘a cause célèbre’ in Nigerian journalism and an important moment in the continuing contest between the press and political authority. Momoh’s tenure also demonstrated that the institutional culture developed under Jose had not disappeared completely despite government ownership. The newsroom still contained journalists prepared to test the limits of political authority.
Onyema Ugochukwu and the military years
Another major figure was Onyema Ugochukwu. After spending several years editing West Africa magazine in London, Ugochukwu returned to Nigeria in 1987 and became editor-in-chief of Daily Times.
By then, Nigeria was under military rule, and the relationship between the press and government had become increasingly difficult.
Ugochukwu’s tenure came at a time when the newspaper was dealing with the pressures of political control, declining circulation and competition from more aggressive privately owned newspapers.
Historical accounts describe his approach as methodical. He reportedly began his working day by reviewing newspapers and publications before proceeding to editorial conferences with line editors. He was also known for playing a conciliatory role between the press and military authorities.
In 1990, following the arrest of the editor of The Punch over a publication relating to the failed Gideon Orkar coup attempt, Ugochukwu, as president of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, helped coordinate efforts seeking the editor’s release. He left Daily Times in 1994.
The decline
The 1990s were increasingly difficult. Military administrations tightened their relationship with the media. Privately owned newspapers became more aggressive, more colourful and, in many cases, more willing to confront the government.
Titles such as The Punch, The Guardian, Concord and others competed aggressively for readers.
Daily Times, weighed down by its ownership structure and institutional bureaucracy, struggled to respond. Its circulation declined. Its ability to compete commercially weakened. Its vast organisational structure became increasingly difficult to sustain.
The newspaper that had once dominated the Nigerian market was losing its position in an industry that was becoming more competitive and more politically assertive.
By December 1998, the crisis had become acute. Hundreds of workers reportedly embarked on an indefinite strike over salary arrears, with workers said to be owed five months’ wages.
The crisis was no longer simply about journalism. It was about institutional survival.
Privatisation: The second beginning
With the return to civilian rule in 1999, the federal government began the process of privatising Daily Times. An initial attempt to offer government shares to the public in 2003 failed to attract a meaningful response.
In 2004, the Bureau of Public Enterprises reopened the process. Folio Communications Limited emerged as the preferred bidder after the government privatisation exercise.
According to Daily Times’ own account, Folio paid N1.25 billion for the acquisition and formally assumed ownership on September 3, 2004.
But privatisation did not produce an instant revival. The new owners inherited a troubled organisation. Daily Times’ own account says the company’s assets were valued at about N2 billion against liabilities of about N1.5 billion.
There were also disputes involving former employees, assets, ownership and the implementation of the privatisation agreement. The controversies surrounding the sale became part of the newspaper’s post-government history.
The Folio controversy
Folio Communications and its principal, Anosike, faced allegations concerning the management and disposal of Daily Times assets.
In 2010, the Attorney-General of the Federation filed a 21-count charge against Fidelis and Noel Anosike alleging conspiracy and theft involving more than N3 billion in Daily Times property.
The Anosikes denied wrongdoing. The legal proceedings became complicated, with different judicial developments and competing claims involving other individuals connected to the controversy.
The Federal High Court in Lagos quashed the charges against the Anosikes in March 2011, although subsequent litigation meant the dispute did not simply disappear from public view.
Folio has consistently maintained that it acquired Daily Times through a legitimate government privatisation process and has publicly produced documents it says demonstrate its payment and ownership.
A newspaper fighting to return
The physical newspaper went through periods when its flagship publication was not consistently on the streets.
Following the acquisition, printing of the flagship Daily Times resumed during the restructuring period, including between 2006 and 2009. The newspaper subsequently returned to the streets in December 2014, according to the company’s historical account.
But the business model changed. The era in which hundreds of thousands of Nigerians routinely purchased printed copies every day had passed. The internet has transformed the economics of journalism. Advertising migrated online. News became immediate. Social media became a competing distribution system.
The smartphone replaced the newspaper stand as one of the principal gateways to information. For an institution built around printing presses, distribution networks, classified advertising and mass circulation, the transformation was existential.
The digital disruption
The crisis of Daily Times is therefore not solely a story of government interference or managerial failure. It is also a story of technological disruption.
Newspapers across the world have struggled with the same forces: declining print advertising, changing consumer habits, rising production costs, free online content, social-media competition and fragmented audiences.
But legacy newspapers in Nigeria face additional pressures, including weak advertising markets, high production and distribution costs, unstable purchasing power and a media environment in which misinformation can spread faster than verified reporting.
The centenary has consequently arrived at a crucial moment. The question is no longer whether Daily Times can recreate the 1970s. It cannot. The question is whether it can use the authority accumulated over 100 years to build a viable 21st-century media institution.
The archive: Perhaps the greatest inheritance
Of all the assets associated with Daily Times, none may be more important than its archives. The newspaper has recorded Nigeria’s history not from the distance of a historian writing decades later, but day by day.
A bridge opened. A president was sworn in. A coup took place. A minister resigned. A market burned. A football team won. A university released admission lists. A government announced a policy. A community protested. A child disappeared. A war began. A country celebrated independence. These seemingly ordinary stories collectively form the texture of national history.
This is why the planned centenary digital archive is potentially one of the most important components of the anniversary.
The project is intended to make a century of Daily Times editions accessible online to researchers and the public. If properly completed, indexed and preserved, it could transform historical research in Nigeria.
It would also allow younger generations to encounter Nigeria not merely through textbooks, but through the headlines, photographs, advertisements, editorials and everyday reports that accompanied previous generations.
This is why the Secretary of the Government of the Federation (SGF), George Akume, described Daily Times in February 2026 as a flagship of Nigerian journalism and a training ground for some of the country’s finest media professionals. He specifically highlighted the contribution of Jose and the newspaper’s tradition of investigative reporting, editorial excellence and professional integrity.
The power of the front page
There was a period when the front page of Daily Times could influence national conversation almost instantly.
Government officials read it. Business executives read it. Military officers read it. Students read it. Civil servants read it. Teachers read it. Politicians read it. Ordinary citizens read it. For many Nigerians, the day did not begin until the newspaper had been purchased.
This created a form of power that contemporary digital publishers rarely possess: The ability to place a single national conversation in front of hundreds of thousands of people simultaneously.
The newspaper could elevate an issue from obscurity to national debate. It could confer legitimacy on a public concern. It could expose wrongdoing. It could influence markets. It could shape political narratives. It could also be used by those in power to advance official positions.
Daily Times at 100: a different kind of power
Today, Daily Times cannot simply reclaim the old dominance of print. The media environment has changed too dramatically. But power in journalism has also changed.
In the 1970s, power was largely measured by circulation. Today it is measured through a combination of trust, reach, speed, influence, data, digital communities, video, audio, search visibility, social distribution and the ability to preserve authoritative information.
The newspaper’s current management says its centenary programme will therefore include a digital-first newsroom, data journalism, video, podcasts, media literacy initiatives and training fellowships for young journalists, alongside the digital archive project.
Those plans point towards a more realistic definition of the newspaper’s future. The challenge is not to become what Daily Times was. It is to become what a 100-year-old Daily Times can be.
The anniversary began formally on June 1, 2026. The management announced a year-long programme built around public lectures, exhibitions of historic front pages and the digital archive project.
The Times Heroes Awards 2026 were also announced as part of the centenary programme, with nominations covering public service, enterprise, governance, journalism, innovation, philanthropy, diaspora and global impact. The awards are scheduled to culminate in September 2026.
The celebrations have also been used to renew the newspaper’s engagement with the Nigerian journalism community.
At the Abuja centenary activities, Anosike pledged N100 million towards the completion of the Nigeria Union of Journalists FCT Council multipurpose hall, describing the anniversary as a milestone for the wider journalism ecosystem.
The centenary has also been accompanied by plans to produce a major national souvenir and other initiatives intended to project Nigeria’s history, achievements and identity.
There is a temptation to measure longevity simply in years. But 100 years in journalism means something more.
It means surviving changes in technology that killed other publications. It means surviving political regimes that disappeared. It means retaining a name familiar to generations that were born decades apart. It means accumulating an archive that can tell the story of a nation. It means producing journalists who went on to build other institutions. It means surviving ownership changes. It means carrying institutional scars. And it means having to repeatedly reinvent oneself.
The Daily Times story is therefore also a story about Nigeria. The newspaper began in colonial Lagos. It grew as nationalism expanded. It covered independence. It reported the coups and the Civil War. It navigated military governments. It survived the transition to democracy. It was absorbed by the state. It declined. It was privatised. It fought through years of restructuring. It returned to print. And now, at 100, it is attempting to find a new identity in a digital world.
As the newspaper marks 100 years, the central question is no longer whether Daily Times can survive another century. It is whether it can make the next century as consequential as the first. For an institution that has spent 100 years recording Nigeria’s history, that would be the most fitting story of all.
