BellaNaija turns 20 this year. In a Nigerian media landscape where plenty of platforms don’t survive a change in ownership, let alone two decades, that’s its own kind of story.

Founded by Uche Pedro in 2006, BellaNaija built itself into one of Nigeria’s best-known digital platforms, expanding from entertainment coverage into public health and civic campaigns over the years through programmes like BNDoGood and StopHPVforHer. Twenty years on, it’s marking the anniversary with a year of editorial projects and community initiatives, culminating in a gala on October 2.

Twenty years is long enough to survive several governments, several media cycles, and several versions of the internet. Nobody has to bail out a platform like that, suspend an officer on its behalf, or open an inquiry into why it’s still standing. It just kept showing up. That’s not a small thing in Nigeria. That’s the whole thing.