Lagos businessman, Barrister Jimoh Ibrahim, is not sparing any expense in his bid to make his forthcoming Newswatch newspaper a hit from day one. Newswatch, as previously reported exclusively by News Express, has been turned into a daily newspaper by Ibrahim after controversially taking over the 27 years old iconic magazine from the founding directors, Messrs Ray Ekpu, Dan Agbese, Yakubu Muhammed and Soji Akinrinade.

News Express learnt that Ibrahim has budgeted billions of naira for the newspaper and is paying one of the best wages in the industry. The salary differential is such that some people were lured with a salary more than double what they were earning in other big papers.

Another area in which Ibrahim, who is also publisher of the daily National Mirror, is displaying his financial muscle is in the packaging of Newswatch. News Express learnt that Ibrahim has directed the editors to make Newswatch a 96-page all-colour newspaper seven days a week. This would make Newswatch about double in size than some other Nigerian dailies.

“I can confirm to you that Daily Newswatch is 96 pages, Saturday Newswatch 96 pages and Sunday Newswatch 96 pages. Surprisingly, they are all-colour,” a reliable source involved in the packaging of the newspaper told News Express.

The source disclosed that the printing schedule has already been worked out and that the paper’s dummy is currently being produced.

“I can assure you that Newswatch newspaper will hit the market in a couple of weeks. First to come out will be the Saturday edition before the daily and Sunday titles,” the source said.

As earlier reported by News Express, staffers of the newspaper assumed duties on November 1 while those of the magazine are to start later – Ibrahim, who bought 51 per cent of the shares last year but suspended operations last August 7, having decided to turn it into both a newspaper and a magazine.