From Olanrewaju Lawal, Birnin Kebbi
The National President of Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ) Comrade Ladi Bala has appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and other State Governors to appoint more women into political positions for more participation of female citizens in government activities.
Bala, who stated this at the official opening ceremony of the three days workshop/training for NAWOJ members, held in Birnin Kebbi, explained that the association had sought the zoning of Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives also to a woman.
The NAWOJ President, who spoke on the workshop theme “Gender equity and safety, gender-sensitive reporting for women journalists”, said that the programme is being sponsored by the Norwegian Union of Journalists (NORSK Journalists) which has been held in 26 states across the country.
She said: “This training has the narrative of women journalists reporting and their safety. Globally, we are talking about gender equity, safety environment for women journalists. So, the working environment must be safe for women.”
Speaking on the appointments of more women into political positions, Bala said the association had made their position known through a statement urging President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to give the position of Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives to the women.
According to him, “Women must be given their right place to contribute to the government. Out of 547 lawmakers, only 13 were women. We are going to continue to agitate for more and take it over from that.
“We are very grateful to the Kebbi State Governor and State Government for the appointment of one woman as a Councilor in every ward across the state and having women as Permanent Secretaries. We need more and we want other states to emulate this.
“If women can be good managers of homes when their husbands were far away for months, why can’t they be Ministers of Health, Education, so that the girl child education issues and health challenges affecting women and children would be properly addressed? A woman thinks about the whole nation not only about her household because, if you trained a woman, you have trained the entire nation,” she said.
Bala who disclosed that Kebbi State would be 27 states where such training will be held, charged participants to pay adequate attention to the invited resource persons throughout the 3 days of the programme.
She commended the Kebbi State Governor, Dr Nasir Idris for appointing the former Zonal Secretary of NAWOJ as Press Secretary to his wife, as well as the former NUJ Secretary as his Press Secretary stressed that the NAWOJ are also delighted for peace and unity among her members in the state Council.
The Kebbi State Head of Service, Alhaji Safiyanu Bena, represented by the Acting Permanent Secretary of Establishment, Alhaji Malami Abdullahi Maiyama, welcomed NAWOJ national executive to the state and promised that the State Government would continue to support journalists and put their retraining of among programmes that would be given priority.
Earlier, the State Chairperson of NAWOJ, Hajiya Hassana Koko, in her remark, noted that the training would address challenges faced daily by women journalists, especially threats to lives, and harassment, among others.
According to her, “the issue of gender inequality has continued to be a global phenomenon which women journalists exposed to serious dangers, molestation, harassment and to some extent, lose their lives in the line of duty.
“But the good days are here and we are better enlightened today. This training, workshop will update our knowledge and prepare us for the tasks ahead. Women Journalists in the course of discharging our duties must be guided by safety and precaution as contained in the constitutional provisions of the association and the country.”
In his remark, Special Adviser to Governor on Media, Mallam Yahyah Sarki congratulated NAWOJ for organising the workshop in the state for the first time and stressed that the state government are fully committed to the re-training of journalists in the state.
He disclosed that the state government have the highest number of women as Permanent Secretaries, Councilors serving in the state to ensure gender equality stressed that, the state has also domesticated Gender Equity Bill.
The programme was attended by the Zonal Vice President, Alhaji Tukur Dustinmari, National Executive of NAWOJ, General Manager of NTA, Alhaji Lawal Matasin, among others.