It is a season of honour for The Guardian as the newspaper yesterday won the Best Use of Mobile Technology for Media (Print) award.About three months ago, the newspaper got the industry recognition at the yearly Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA) .ng media award, and the Nigeria Online Merit Award (NiOMA).

The latest honour was at the 2018 Nigeria Mobile Economy Summit and Awards (NiMES) organised by the Centre for Cyber Awareness and Development (CECAD), with support from the Ministry of Information.Presenting the award at Rutam House, the corporate headquarters of The Guardian in Lagos, the organisers said the flagship of the Nigerian press had performed excellently in terms of ethical standards on both the online and offline platforms. In the award categories, The Guardian was recognised ahead of Punch and Vanguard, the organisers said.

According to the President of CECAD, Dr. Bayero Agabi, The Guardian has been able to leverage emerging mobile technologies to replicate and enhance its credibility in the online space. Agabi, who presented the award on behalf of the Ministry of Information, noted that the readers’ trust which The Guardian enjoys offline is being reproduced on its online platform.

“We looked at the media outfit that is innovative in accepting technological changes to drive media services. From our feedback, The Guardian was impressive. It is a pride to say that The Guardian deserves the award. It is also the most robust partner with other platforms,” Agabi said.The Publisher of The Guardian, Mrs. Maiden Alex Ibru, thanked the digital team and restated the newspaper’s determination to remain in the first position.

“It cost us a huge amount to set up the digital platform. We hope to continue to stay in the first position and maintain media relevance,” she said.The Editor-in-Chief, Mr. Debo Adeshina, said the latest industry recognition was a testament to the fact that the newspaper prioritised publication of credible information on all its platforms. 
 
“What matters now is the content we churn out. Whatever is published by The Guardian is credible. We are glad we did not disappoint. We are responsible to feed the audience and have not failed in gatekeeping.”The Online Editor, Tonye Bakare, said the awards had shown that The Guardian digital platform since three years of its inception had maintained the standards. Bakare, who said the award called for more work, promised that the team would not relent in its efforts.

“For us, the award is an indication that we are doing something right. We hope to continue to do our best in serving our audience and justifying the sort of investment the management has put into the digital platform.” 

Also present at the award presentation were The Guardian Executive Director, Mr. Toke Ibru; Editor, Abraham Ogbodo; Associate Editor, Julius Eto; Sunday Editor, Alabi Williams; Legal Adviser, Efeturi Ojonah; and Head, Guardian TV, Bunmi Amosu. Other members of the CECAD team in attendance were the Director (Strategy), Hillary Damissah; Director (Operations), Festus Alawode; and Head, Special Projects, Ugochi Emmanuel.