Naij.com later changed to Naija.ng and now Legit.ng is one of the biggest online news publishers in Nigeria. Here are a couple of things you probably didn’t know about the news publisher.
It was founded in 2012
It is available in both English and Hausa (Naij Hausa) Languages
It has over 70 employees
It is owned by Genesis Technology Partners, a Russian company owned by a Belarusian man, Vital Laptenok. The company also owns Jiji.ng in Nigeria, Yen.com.gh in Ghana and Tuko.co.ke in Kenya among other web properties in Africa.
It is headquartered in Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria
It is the largest publisher in Nigeria on Facebook
It is currently the 6th most visited website in Nigeria based on Alexa rankings.
Its mission is “To be a guide, that leads the way through the news”
It has an editorial hub in Abuja
It features some popular journalists and bloggers as columnists such as Japheth Omojuwa, Tolu Ogunlesi, and others.
It has been speculated in some quarters that its name changes were either due to an Adsense ban on its domain name(s) or a Nigerian government crackdown on the website due to its political news reporting, none of these is confirmed.
Its first name Naij is simply Nigeria’s pidgin name “Naija” without the “A” while its current name “Legit” is a short form of “Legitimate” which resonates with the company’s fact-checking policy before publishing any news.
It’s Android app was No.1 in the news category in the Google Play Store upon its release in 2014 with over 500K installs in 10 months and an all-time install of almost 5 million.
Naij.com’s success can be attributed to its efficient use of digital marketing channels such as Paid Online Advertising on the Google Display Network, Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, etc, Search Engine Optimization, Email Marketing, Social Media Marketing and App Store Optimization.
Just like Nairaland, the website was attacked by hackers in 2015. The company partnered with Opera Ltd and MTN for the “one million days of free Internet to Nigeria” campaign in 2015. It was also one of the first websites in Nigeria to use the Facebook Instant article feature.
Legit.ng has established a project to connect reporters from all Nigerian states and Abuja and another missing person initiative to help return missing people home.
It had over 62 million visits as of November 2017 and over 4.5 million followers on Facebook as of today. It is also active on YouTube and surpassed the 100,000 subscribers mark in 2018.
The website features the Latest News, EPL News, Hausa News, Politics, Gossip, Celebrity News, Ask Legit, Sports News as well as job vacancies in the company,
Legit TV, the online TV arm of the company recently received funding from the Google News Initiative for expansion of their Youtube publishing efforts with the acquisition of new equipment and studio space. It was selected along with 87 organizations in 23 countries and other individual publishers to receive the grant. The company also plans to launch a Video Journalism school in Nigeria in September 2019.
Steve Edegbo is the team lead at Naijatechhub.com. Naijatechhub is a team of writers and researchers dedicated to providing the best up to date information on topics in Nigeria. If you need more information, kindly contact us.
