A new monthly tabloid newspaper for the growing expatriate West African community in South Africa has gone on sale, the publishers said on Monday.
The monthly, known as FS African Standard, is produced by the Financial Standard, a Nigerian business weekly. Apart from serving the West African community, it will provide information for local companies interested in doing business in West Africa.
In a statement, Eniola Fadayomi, chairperson of Nigeria’s Millennium Publishers, said the launch of the new publication is a sign of the growing relationship between the two regions and contributes to the spirit of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development.
The first commercial issue went on sale in May in CNA and Exclusive Books following the complimentary issue circulated in April.
FS African Standard, which has staff in South Africa and Nigeria, will focus on news and features from West Africa, particularly Nigeria and Ghana, and on West African communities and personalities in South Africa.
Fadayomi said the idea for such a publication resulted from her many visits to South Africa.
”I could see that South Africans had limited knowledge of what was happening in other parts of Africa. And yet at the same time there were moves towards greater integration of South Africa into the rest of Africa through various political initiatives.
”With the information revolution, the world is becoming a much smaller place and what we have to consider in terms of this is that it is not longer a question of an Africa-Europe axis. It is a question of what we can do within Africa, between countries.”
She hopes the paper will help to create greater understanding between Africans themselves and that Africans from other parts of the continent can be showcased for their achievements.
”We need to show South Africans that our people are not doing well because of crime but because of their own efforts,” Fadayomi said. — Sapa