List of Nigerian Newspapers and Their Owners, With History

Ten national daily newspapers in Nigeria, oldest first: Nigerian Tribune, The Punch, The Guardian, Vanguard, ThisDay, Daily Trust, Daily Independent, The Sun, Leadership and The Nation. An eleventh, the Daily Times, is older than all of them and says it has been back on the streets since December 2014.

They are in order of age because there is no honest way to rank them. We found no official ranking of Nigerian newspapers and no audited sales figures for any of the eleven.

The papers at a glance

How we chose them

The earlier version of this page called its list a top ten and quoted daily sales for Vanguard, ThisDay and Punch. We could not trace those numbers to any audit, so they are gone, and so is the ranking.

The table holds general-interest daily papers that are still publishing and that set out their own history on their own website. Two are exceptions. The websites of The Guardian and Vanguard would not open their About pages to us, so those rows rest on the outside sources named in their entries.

A paper that is missing has not been judged and found wanting. We could not check it at source, or it is a business paper, a regional one or a newsroom with no printed edition.

The papers, oldest first

Daily Times

The company was incorporated in 1926 as the Nigeria Printing and Publishing Company. Its own history says the federal government took 96.5% of it in 1975 and that it declined under the management the government appointed. Folio Communications Limited paid ₦1.25 billion for it and took over on 3 September 2004. The flagship was printed again from 2006 to 2009, and has been back since December 2014. The contact page gives an office in Asokoro, Abuja.

Nigerian Tribune

Founded in November 1949 by Chief Obafemi Awolowo, later Premier of the Western Region. The publisher is African Newspapers of Nigeria Plc, with headquarters at Oke Ado, Ibadan, and it also puts out the Saturday and Sunday Tribune. It calls itself the oldest surviving newspaper in Nigeria. The Daily Times company is older, but by its own account its flagship spent years out of print.

The Punch

Punch’s first year can be given as 1970, 1971, 1973 or 1976, and its About page explains why. Punch (Nigeria) Limited was registered on 8 August 1970. Its first title, a family magazine called Happy Home, came out in 1971. Sunday Punch followed on 18 March 1973 and the daily on 1 November 1976.

The first chairman was Chief James Olubunmi Aboderin, an accountant, who died in 1984. A State House statement credits the journalist Sam Amuka-Pemu as co-founder with him. The chairman now is Mrs Angela Emuwa. The company left Ikeja in October 2009 for its own headquarters at Magboro, Ogun State, on the Lagos to Ibadan expressway.

Punch says its titles are the market leaders. With no audited figures, nobody outside the building can check.

The Guardian

Founded in 1983 by the businessman Alex Ibru. Daily Trust’s report on his death in November 2011 says it first appeared on 22 February 1983 as a Sunday weekly and went daily on 4 July 1983. His widow, Lady Maiden Alex-Ibru, is the publisher. In November 2025 she was elected president of the Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria, as Leadership and Premium Times both reported. The BBC’s media guide to Nigeria lists The Guardian as a Lagos-based national daily.

Vanguard

Set up in 1984 by Sam Amuka-Pemu, who began at the Daily Times and then co-founded The Punch. That is from the State House statement marking his 90th birthday in June 2025, which calls him the publisher of Vanguard still. The BBC lists the paper as Lagos-based.

ThisDay

Founded on 22 January 1995 and published by ThisDay Newspapers Ltd from 35 Creek Road, Apapa, Lagos. The paper prints that line at the foot of its own articles. Its publisher is Nduka Obaigbena, who also founded the Arise News channel.

Daily Trust

Media Trust Limited started with a Friday paper, Weekly Trust, in Kaduna in 1998. Daily Trust itself followed in 2001, according to ThisDay’s report on the company’s twentieth anniversary. So both years turn up as its founding date. The company is now in Utako, Abuja, and also publishes the Hausa paper Aminiya. ThisDay’s report of the 2023 newspaper proprietors’ election names Kabiru Yusuf as chairman of Media Trust.

Daily Independent

Independent Newspapers Limited was registered on 17 July 2001 and began publishing on 1 October that year. Its registered office is in Ogba, Ikeja. The About page names no owner beyond the company.

The Sun

The Sun Publishing Limited began on 18 January 2003 with a weekly and went daily on 16 June 2003. A football daily, SoccerStar, was added on 20 February 2006. The head office is at Kirikiri Industrial Layout, Apapa, Lagos, and the company lists regional offices in six other cities.

Leadership

Born on 1 October 2004 as a weekly, daily from 1 February 2006. The founder was Sam Nda-Isaiah, a pharmacist who had made his name as a Daily Trust columnist. He died on 11 December 2020, and the paper’s About page says his widow, Zainab Nda-Isaiah, has chaired Leadership Group Limited since February 2021. It is an Abuja paper and has a Hausa edition.

The Nation

Founded on Monday 31 July 2006. The publisher is Vintage Press Limited, at 27B Fatai Atere Way, Matori, Mushin, Lagos. The earlier version of this page put its head office in Abuja, which its own page does not support. That page names no individual owner, so neither do we.

The first newspaper in Nigeria

The first was Iwe Irohin Fun Awon Ara Egba Ati Yoruba, a paper for the Egba and Yoruba people. Reverend Henry Townsend, an Anglican missionary, first published it in Abeokuta on 3 December 1859. It came out every two weeks in Yoruba and later became bilingual. This is from the Nigeria entry in the SAGE Encyclopedia of Mass Media and Society.

The same entry says Lagos then became the centre of the newspaper business and has stayed that way. Six of the eleven papers in our table are based there.

Closed papers and others to know

• NEXT was the investigative paper started in 2008 by Dele Olojede, a Pulitzer Prize winner. It died in 2011. In a 2017 interview reported by the International Centre for Investigative Reporting, Olojede said its loan was pulled and advertisers fled.
• National Mirror and Daily Champion were on the earlier version of this list. We could not confirm on either paper’s own site that it still prints, so both are left out. We have not found a sourced closing date for either and will not guess one.
• BusinessDay, established in 2001, describes itself as a daily business newspaper based in Lagos with a bureau in Accra.
• Blueprint is an Abuja daily that began as a weekly in May 2011 and went daily that September.
• Premium Times, founded in mid-2011 and based in Abuja, is on the BBC’s list of Nigerian press. Its About page makes no mention of a printed paper, which is why it is not in the table.

Quick answers

What are 10 names of newspapers in Nigeria?

Nigerian Tribune, The Punch, The Guardian, Vanguard, ThisDay, Daily Trust, Daily Independent, The Sun, Leadership and The Nation. Daily Times, BusinessDay and Blueprint make thirteen.

Which is the oldest newspaper in Nigeria?

Of those still publishing, the Daily Times name goes back furthest, to 1926, but with breaks in printing. The Nigerian Tribune, founded in 1949, calls itself the oldest surviving newspaper.

What was the first newspaper in Nigeria?

Iwe Irohin, first published in Abeokuta on 3 December 1859 by Reverend Henry Townsend.

Who owns Punch newspaper?

Punch (Nigeria) Limited, a company registered in 1970. Its first chairman was Chief James Olubunmi Aboderin, and the board is now chaired by Mrs Angela Emuwa.

Who owns Vanguard newspaper?

Sam Amuka-Pemu, who founded it in 1984 and is still its publisher.