The Trigger:
A recent advert for COO/Editor of a digital newspaper offered N300k-N400k for a role that would consume all of the holder’s time. It raised a bigger question: How can we demand everything from journalists while paying them almost nothing?
The Core Thesis:
Nigeria expects journalists to have the courage of a soldier, the integrity of a judge, and the eloquence of a professor, but pays them like beggars. Low pay is not just a labour issue, it is a democracy issue. A journalist who cannot pay his bills cannot defend democracy.
What Journalists Actually Earn [AbingMO3 Research]:
• Junior reporters in national dailies: N50k – N80k
• Senior reporters: N120k – N180k
• Very few earn above N200k at entry level
• Many are on retainership – no salary, just an ID card
• Some are paid N500 per story, N1,000 if it trends
• Majority have no health insurance or pension
• For context: Lagos State secondary school teacher starts at N120k, BRT driver at N150k. Over 60% of journalists in Abuja couldn’t afford a one-bedroom flat without sharing as far back as 2022 [Emmanuel Ogbeche, NUJ FCT].
Why Wages Are So Low:
1. Dead Business Model: Print advert fell from N35bn in 2015 to under N10bn in 2025, with revenue migrating to Google, Facebook and influencers.
2. Labour Oversupply: Over 20,000 Mass Comm graduates yearly from 180 institutions. A “reserve army of labour” willing to take N50k for experience.
3. Ownership Motive: Many papers were set up as political tools for prestige and leverage, not for profit. Salaries are kept at subsistence; reporters are left to survive on “appreciation” from sources.
The Consequences:
• Brown Envelope Journalism: When rent in Lagos is N450k and salary is N120k, reporters must quit or accept inducement. Research by Prof. Femi Sonaike: 72% have taken money to kill or spin a story.
• Loss of Trust: Rise of “let’s settle” journalism – damaging stories are held back for a payoff. Public now believes “all journalists are blackmailers.”
• Self-Censorship & Regionalization: A poorly paid reporter cannot afford to be sacked, so he avoids angering his employer or his region’s political elite who owe advert money.
• Brain Drain & Wretched Welfare: Best hands leave for PR. When journalists die, colleagues have to beg for burial funds.
The Way Forward:
1. Enforce a Minimum Wage: Enforce the 2010 Media Salary Structure agreed with NPAN. Copy Ghana where GJA publishes annual minimum wage and blacklists defaulters from state adverts.
2. New Business Models: Move beyond copy sales. Examples: Stears [subscription data], HumAngle [grant-funded], TechCabal [events/intelligence], and direct audience payment via Substack/Patreon.
3. Legal Protection: A Journalists’ Living Wage Bill. Classify media houses with 50+ staff as essential employers mandated to pay at least N300k at entry, closing the “freelancer/casual” loophole used to evade the N70k Minimum Wage Act.
Final Line:
Anyone who wants to fix Nigerian journalism should not start with ethics training alone. Start with a living salary alert because a fed watchdog barks louder.
Abiola Ayankubi Phd.