Newspaper Vendors in Bauchi have lamented over the drop in sale of newspapers as a result of internet evolution.
Sale of newspapers dropped significantly since the emergence of new media technologies and other factors.
A check reveals that in Bauchi presence of online newspapers has almost forced vendors out of business as the sales drop daily.
Sani Ismaeel, a newspaper vendor in Bauchi, said that the emergence of internet has led to a significant drop in their sale of newspaper.
“Due to use of internet and emergence of online newspaper, sale of newspaper has gone down.
“I have been a newspaper vendor for over 15 years but vendors now have challenge of lack of sales, with the advent of online newspapers, people now resort to reading online newspapers.
“This has adversely affected the sale of newspapers, leaving us helpless, in those years I make at least N30,000 daily, now I hardly make N3000 a day.
“This is affecting my daily needs, I can’t meet up with my family obligations, which are essential,” he said.
Another Vendor, Rilwanu Ubale, said customers who were noted for demanding for newspapers, no longer do.
“I can sit here the whole day without making N4000, unlike seven years ago when i used to make 30,000 to N40, 000 daily.
“My means of livelihood is at stake, i find it difficult to cater for my family now,” he said.
Musa Ahmed, a 45-years vendor , said that for 15 years he has been selling newspapers in the state capital but never had it bad until now with the advent of online papers.
“Honestly we have had a drop of not less than 70 percent in sales. What will I eat if I quit this business, because of the drop in sales.
“It is the only means for securing the basic necessity for the family, we are going through hell unlike before,” he said.
Babayo Adamu, another vendor, explained that the drop in the sales of newspaper want to keep us out of business.
“It was not business as usual, definitely it was not a happy moment for us again, we will be here from morning till night, but make nothing significant.
“In those years we sold large number of newspaper copies daily, today, these figures in a general sense, have fallen considerably.
“How do you take care of the family with this kind of business because it is from the sales that you get some gain that you will manage family with, but the sales has dropped,” he said.
Abdullahi Ahmed, a media practitioner, said that the economic situation in the country coupled with the emergence of the new media is making the print media shrink both in size and circulation.
“At the rate at which sales of newspaper is dropping on a daily basis. Adequate circulation for virtually all print media companies appears to be transiting into a major source of worry for those concerned.
A newspaper reader, Bulus Kazhi, said online papers were making a headway.
“They deploy the use of social media to circulate wider and faster in real-time, on twitter, WhatsApp, Facebook and so on.
“The news is broken as it is happening, whereas, the mainstream has to wait to report it the following day, and the reader may not want to read stories that happened a day before, which in my opinion is affecting newspaper circulation.
“Some print media even quote online sources in their stories. By the time the print goes to press, more news is breaking, hence the online publishing requires working late to keep breaking stories as they happen,” he said. (NAN)
