By Joke Adeniyi-Jackson
The Executive Chairman, Kwara State Internal Revenue Service (KWIRS), Dr. Muritala Awodun, yesterday, opened up on his major attraction to National Pilot Newspaper.
The agency had last month honoured the medium with the Best Print Media Award, 2017.
The KWIRS boss, who came on board as helmsman of the agency in 2015, said his addiction to the newspaper dated back to his first day in office.
He made the disclosure while receiving in audience the management team of the medium, during a ‘Thank You’ visit, at the corporate headquarters of the agency in Ilorin.
He said: “When we were just coming on board, the first media house to publish news about the management of the Kwara State Internal Revenue Service was National Pilot. I got hold of that newspaper the first day I resumed and was impressed by the detailed information.
“And ever since then, we have been working together. It may not be as much as you expect but at least you caught my own attention right from that very beginning. That was how I got attracted to your newspaper.
“Before then, I rarely read any newspaper from Kwara even when I see it I just take my eyes off it, thinking that we must have heard the content on radio. That was my own impression.”
Awodun added that the newspaper has through its keen professionalism added value to news reporting and dissemination, which informed the support from his agency.
“We (KWIRS) discovered that people in Kwara read your newspaper a lot and it is about the reach. You need to communicate to people through the medium they prefer… I don’t have a business with the people in Lagos, Abuja. I have business with the people in Kwara. So, I am going to get more returns by putting my advert in your newspaper than putting it in national dailies.
“We have to use the medium that is more effective and will give us the most in terms of milestone. We are not doing you any good in patronising you but it is our own interest to patronise you,” he stressed.
Awodun stated that the agency cherished the symbiotic relationship it has with the newspaper, assuring of better partnership for mutual benefit.
He, therefore, urged the management not to rest on its oars but continue to inject innovation and creativity into the newspaper to attract more readership.
Earlier in his remarks, the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of National Pilot Newspaper, Alhaji Billy Adedamola, noted that KWIRS has been playing major role in the economic development of the state.
He expressed appreciation to the management of the agency for the support and partnership it has with the newspaper.
On the award, Adedamola appreciated the agency for the honour and recognition, saying it is the best thing to have happened to the organisation, coming from a credible agency like KWIRS.
He, then solicited the strengthening of the partnership between the two organisations, adding that National Pilot will continue to live up to expectation as a newspaper held in public trust.
