Contest Communications Limited is a company incorporated to operate a purely ideologically progressive and working class news establishment. Registered in 2019 to bring this idea into reality, National Record, with the domain name: https://nationalrecord.com.ng/ was conceived to operate as an online news publication.
National Record, based in Abuja, Nigeria’s Federal Capital, operates for the time being as a weekly publication, although it is structured to daily provide updates on compelling news items.
As a weekly, it is essentially poised to investigate, scrutinise and breakdown news – reported, unreported and under-reported stories – and to amplify issues and concerns of the working class and Nigeria’s development in general.
National Record shall serve as a platform for the expression of emancipatory views for national development and progressive politics as well as broad issues of social and economic justice in Nigeria and beyond. It is committed to an open society; a society governed by civilised, democratic and accountable norms; a society whose governance code is people-driven and whose focus is on a secure and sustainable future for all, irrespective of race, ethnicity, religion and gender.
Politically, National Record sits left of centre. It shall support political parties or candidates that espouse progressive ideals and are committed to achieving those principles in governance.
We are a compact team with focus, commitment and preparedness to meet and fulfil the demands of popular and independent journalism. In doing this, we pledge to abide by the ethos of journalism, hence our motto: “Truth is Timeless”.
In the near future, we have in place a template for “Annual Pride of Nigeria Awards” through which we will celebrate champions and defenders of the working class and ordinary people.
Our mission is to offer a unique, broadminded but ideologically clear voice on political and development issues in the Nigerian society to empower our readers to make sense of a rapidly changing world, to challenge wrongs where they exist and to stand up, not only for the under-privileged and vulnerable, but also as a banner for the required social conscience lacking in our governance.
The Publisher/Editor-in-Chief/CEO: Iduh Lawrence Onah, has garnered over two decades of journalism experience since his graduation from the University of Jos in 1996.
Cutting his journalism teeth at the Media Trust Limited, publishers of the Trust titles (Weekly Trust and Daily Trust), Onah quickly rose from the position of Reporter/Researcher in 1999 upon his employment to that of Deputy Editor by 2007 when he was appointed as Chief Press Secretary to Chief Steven Lawani, Deputy Governor of Benue State between 2007-2015.
Onah resigned his appointment after less than two years in May 2009, and was set to join Peoples Daily before he was headhunted to take up appointment at the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC). Onah served as Acting HOD, Information for the period he was in the NLC. He introduced and edited within this period a flagship publication, Workersworld, before he was illegally dismissed by NLC President, Abdulwaheed I. Omar, in the course of the crisis that rocked NLC after its 10th delegates’ conference in 2011.
While challenging his illegal dismissal at the Industrial Court in Abuja, a litigation he won and was compensated, Onah served at the Centre for Labour Studies and Advocacy, a labour-oriented civil society organisation. Here, he again set up the organisation’s flagship magazine, The Worker, which he edited until he left at the end of December 2019 to incorporate Contest Communications, the parent company and publisher of National Record.
Onah is a strong advocate of a free and popular press. He believes in journalism as a formidable instrument for popular emancipation.
WebDigits: A big story that will be told with greater detail in the near future is how the concept of the publication quickly morphed into reality from a casual discussion between the publisher and the IT engineer, one afternoon at Labour House. This website has been designed pro bono and is also being hosted pro bono for one year by Webdigits.