It is a history project to provide context for conversations about politics and the economy but also a record of language, culture and mundane aspects of Nigerian life, he says. It formally started in April when the team procured a seven-feet tall overhead scanner after raising $15,000 from donors since 2020. At the moment, the best places to read old Nigerian newspapers are in the libraries of some of the country’s oldest public universities in Ibadan, Zaria, and Nsukka. But even those do not offer comprehensive repositories; poor care has led to some records being lost, and publishers serving particular regions have limited reach in others. In any case, not everyone can get to a physical library.
Fu’ad Lawal’s Goal with Archivi.ng is to Digitize Every Nigerian Newspaper Published Every Day Since Independence in 1960
