Plateau buys N444m equipment for newspaper company

The Plateau State Government has taken delivery of digital printing machines and other equipment worth N444 million for its publishing company, Abraham Yiljap, the Commissioner for Information and Communication, said.
Plateau Publishing Corporation is the Publisher of Nigerian Standard Newspaper, the Sunday Standard and the Rock magazine.
Yiljap was at the corporation’s headquarters in Jos on Tuesday to inspect the equipment.
He said the ongoing repositioning of the company was aimed at providing it with new and modern equipment to meet the challenges of modern journalism.
According to him, the machines will also prepare the corporation to go into daily publication of its Nigerian Standard Newspaper.
The commissioner expressed the hope that the corporation would continue to serve as the voice of the voiceless in the state and beyond.
Yiljap said: “What we want is to ensure that this corporation, through its publications, especially now that it is planning to go into daily printing of its newspaper, will give a voice to the people of Plateau, the minorities and indeed the entire Middle Belt.
“Governor Jonah Jang has shown himself as a credible leader.
“He has promised to give this place a new look, both structurally and in terms of equipping it.
“Today we are all witnesses that he is fulfilling his promise.”
The commissioner said since the company was established 40 years ago, no administration had addressed its problems.
“We are undertaking this project to show that 2014 is a year of good tidings for the people of Plateau and to show to the world that we are a media friendly state,” he said.
Yiljap further said that N200 million had been released by the state government for the renovation of the corporation’s administrative block.
“‘Staff offices need to be in order as well to serve as a form of motivation,” he said.
The commissioner lauded the management of the corporation for embarking on the training and retraining of its staff .
In his remarks, the General Manager of the corporation, Jonathan Ishaku, thanked the state government for coming to the aid of the corporation through the refurbishment of its equipment.
Ishaku gave an assurance that with the digital machines and other infra structure, the corporation would deliver on its mandate.