100-150 MILLION HAUSA PEOPLE IS ENOUGH TO PROMOTE INCLUSIVE NEWS REPORTING: SAYS HEAD OF DESK, LEGIT HAUSA

Records show that Hausa is the most widely spoken language within the Chadic branch of the Afroasiatic language family.

As at 2019, Ethnologue estimated that it was spoken as a first language by some 47 million people and as a second language by another 25 million, bringing the total number of Hausa speakers to an estimated 72 million in Africa.

According to more recent estimations, Hausa is spoken by 100–150 million people. This Data alone is enough to prove to all news outlets that a Hausa desk focused on creating and curating news stories for this particular audience in Nigeria is as important as reporting news in English language.

In this chat with Mudathir Ishaq, Lead Editor and Head of Desk, Legit Hausa, we discuss an important news vertical of ours, Legit Hausa and its contribution to bringing quality news to underserved communities.

1. What role do you play in Legit Hausa?

As the Lead Editor and Head of Desk, I oversee the day and night affairs of the team. I am responsible for all stories covered, ad status, angles, best possible previews, headlines, and strategy.

2. What makes Legit Hausa very pivotal to the Legit.ng mission to lead the way in news?

Legit Hausa, as we do say, is Legit in Legit. The significant role it plays in leading the way in news coverage for Hausa speakers can not be overemphasized. Statista reports that in a survey conducted in 2020 (Primary languages spoken at home in Nigeria), around 31 percent of respondents declared that they mainly spoke Hausa at home. Legit Hausa keeps these millions of people informed and up to date.

3. What is your day to day like at Legit Hausa?

I resume as early as possible, take short breaks during the day, and close when there's no more news to cover. My daily tasks range from searching for news, to completing assignments, checking for violations, slacking (communicating and connecting with team members on Slack), scouting for interviews, etc.

4. What makes Legit.ng your favourite media publication to work at?

The flexibility at Legit.ng makes it my favourite media publication to work at. I also enjoy being around some of the most hardworking and dedicated professionals in the media industry. The regular seminars and training to keep us up to date is also another perk that I enjoy as an employee of the organization. But most importantly, being a lead editor at the no.1 online publication in Nigeria is something to be proud of.

5. Seems like Legit.ng and few news networks like BBC only report in Hausa news. Do you think other news publications should be more inclusive and tow this path also?

Records show that Hausa is the most widely spoken language within the Chadic branch of the Afroasiatic language family. As at 2019, Ethnologue estimated that it was spoken as a first language by some 47 million people and as a second language by another 25 million, bringing the total number of Hausa speakers to an estimated 72 million in Africa. According to more recent estimations, Hausa is spoken by 100–150 million people. This Data alone is enough to prove to all other news outlets that they need a Hausa desk.

Why we promote inclusive content

At Legit.ng, one of our ways of ensuring that we continually lead in quality news is by engaging people in official languages that are underserved.

Through Legit Hausa, our Legit Hausa editorial team and video team, Legit.ng is able to distribute content to Hausa communities in their vernacular language and they are able to keep up to date with recent developments and events across the country.

For example, Hausa-language content is currently separated from English-language and receives its own main page with its own news ranking (https://hausa.legit.ng/). Now, the Hausa audience doesn’t need to break through an array of irrelevant news, but can immediately open the page in their own language.

This is the extent of Legit.ng's commitment to promoting inclusion through quality news.

Learn more about Legit.ng

According to Newswhip Analytics, Legit.ng hit the list of the most engaged international Facebook web publishers. Legit.ng got an award for massive Facebook engagement, this ranked us 5th on the list of Top 20 web publishers with plenty of stories in the Top 10,000. We came in on the list ahead of A-list media houses like CBS News, The Guardian UK, BBC, The Hill, New York Post and even Forbes.

Asali: Legit.ng