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PR, Media Professionals Tasked on Gender Balancing
Nasiru Yusuf
Public Relations and media professionals and other important institutions/agents of change in Nigeria have been urged to join advocacy for gender balancing, inclusion and fairness for the promotion of socio-economic development in the country.
KANO FOCUS reports that Mrs. Grace Bose Ojougboh, Head, Media and Public Relations at the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and producer/host of the weekly inspirational programme ‘Amazing Grace with Bose’ on YouTube, made the call while delivering a paper around gender balancing and fairness at the March 2022 monthly meeting of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), Abuja Chapter which took place at the National Press Centre, Radio House, Abuja recently (Wednesday March 30, 2021).
Speaking to NIPR members, including Fellows of the Institute at the event on the thought-provoking paper titled: “Achieving Gender Equality In Nigeria: The Role Of Public Relations”, Ojougboh perceptively re-awakened the consciousness of the audience to the often-misconstrued concept of feminism while taking pragmatic look at how this concept should be understood by all to actualise the lofty desire of maximizing the innate potentials of female gender towards achieving greater developmental goals in the society.
She equated feminism with the philosophical aspiration for gender equality as a fundamental human right, which also finds concrete expression in the Goal Five of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) centering on gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls with the hope to end all acts of discrimination against the female gender.
Ojougboh noted with copious instances, that, till date, issues pertaining to women gender has not always received the expected attention, whether by government, parents, the media, communication professionals; traditional and religious leaders, adding that there was need for a change of narrative with respect to how issues pertaining to gender balancing and fairness are effectively mainstreamed into Nigeria’s developmental drive.
According to her, the continuous imbalance in women participation in politics and governance and all the sectors of the economy is glaring, as she submitted that, women are given almost no opportunity to participate in politics and in other spheres of life, this is in spite of the advocacy and call for inclusion and the strategies by various international agencies to reduce gender inequality to the barest minimum.
“Only recently, bills seeking gender equality were rejected by the National Assembly. Appointments across parastatals are dominated by men, this has got to change. If we want economic growth, we must include women, women are transformational agents. We need much more that 35 per cent affirmative action,” she said.
She stated that the fact that women represent about 50 per cent of Nigerian population, according to a 2020 report, means that Nigeria, as a country, cannot afford to neglect the wisdom and the capability of this group and the contribution that women can bring to make Nigeria a truly prosperous nation.
Justifying the need for media/Public Relations practitioners to be at the forefront of driving the narrative for gender balancing, Ojougboh cited an empirical study on media and gender inequality in Nigerian politics, which found that women were denied fair access to the media just as the study also identified media bias in the coverage of female news stories.
She said the findings of the study is a wake-up call that media and Public Relations practitioners have a whole lot to do in the fight for gender balancing in Nigeria. “We need to understand our social responsibility as perception drivers to promote unity, social cohesion, gender balancing/equality and the fundamental human rights of every Nigerian,” she said
She also tasked them to be deliberate and intentional about their communication such that it builds understanding, trust, and acceptance and becomes a win-win for men and women alike and all who desire to see equal representation of men and women across all sectors of the society.
“As Public Relations practitioners, we must help to create gender-sensitive and gender-transformative content that will change perceptions and break gender stereotypes. We must use every available medium to challenge traditional and cultural norms and attitudes that demean womanhood and does not serve humanity,” she said.
Aminu Abdullahi
All Progressives Congress governorship candidate in the last Saturday gubernatorial election, Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna on Tuesday rejected the declaration of Abba Kabir Yusuf of the New Nigeria People’s Party NNPP as the winner of the poll in Kano state.
KANO FOCUS reports that Gawuna in his first public appearance after the poll, spoke during a press conference by the party in the state capital.
The Deputy Governor who admitted that power comes from Almighty Allah, however said he aligned with the positions of the party which among others gave INEC 7 days ultimatum to declared the governorship poll inconclusive.
Gawuna who was in the company of party leaders, said it was astonishing that with the same election, 16 of the House of Assembly elections held same day and same conditions were declared inconclusive by INEC.
Meanwhile, the APC in Kano has rejected the announcement of Abba Kabir Yusif of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) as winner of the just concluded governorship election in Kano calling for immediate review of the election result by the electoral umpire within seven days.
The APC chairman, who was represented by the party’s legal adviser, Abdul Adamu Fagge insists that the election should be declared inconclusive because the cancelled votes were greater than the margin between the first and the second parties of NNPP and APC respectively as provided by the Electoral Act.
Fagge said that there was no way the election could be declared conclusive with over 270,000 votes cancelled which a margin shows is bigger than the winner’s votes.
The party also drew attention to the cancellation of sixteen House of Assembly elections in the state, sighting violence as the reason, while the same votes were considered in collating the governorship election.
It expressed dismay saying the two elections took place same day, same time, same places and under the same circumstances.
Fagge said, “based on section 65 of the Electoral Laws 2022, we have written to INEC to revisit and cancel the hasty, wrong and selfish declaration of the NNPP as winner of the elections, and declared the conduct inconclusive”.
He said they have since written to INEC to within seven days revisit the elections based on the provisions of the Electoral laws and declare it Inconclusive.
The Legal Adviser explained that INEC Returning Officer, acted not on the only basis of the provisions of laws.
Mukhtar Yahaya Usman
The Kano State Government has lifted the dawn-to-dusk curfew imposed in the state.
KANO FOCUS reports that the state government on Monday imposed the curfew with a view to avoiding a breakdown of law and order.
The order followed tensions generated from the collation of results of the governorship and state Assembly elections.
The state Commissioner for Information and Internal Affairs, Muhammad Garba, made the announcement lifting the curfew in a statement issued on Monday night.
He said the decision to lift the curfew followed a careful review of the situation and the relative calm throughout the state.
The commissioner called on commercial banks, public servants and the people in the state to continue their normal activities.
Aminu Abdullahi
The New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, has defeated the All Progressive Party to win Saturday’s governorship election in Kano State.
KANO FOCUS reports that Abba Kabir Yusuf of the NNPP was declared the winner with 1,019,602 votes against his closest rival, APC’s candidate, Nasir Gawuna, who polled 890,705 votes.
The Independent National Electoral Commission Returning officer, Prof Ahmad Doko Ibrahim, announced Yusuf as the winner of the Kano gubernatorial election on Monday morning.
The declaration brought intense electioneering and Saturday election in Kano to an end as two ‘king makers’ – former Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso and incumbent Governor Abdullahi Ganduje – in the state tested their might. While Kwankwaso backed Yusuf, Ganduje routed for Gawuna, his deputy, to succeed him.
Yusuf’s profile
Born to the family of Malam Kabiru Yusuf and Malama Khadijatul-Naja’atu in Gaya Local Government Area of Kano State on 5th January 1963, Abba attended Sumaila primary school between 1968 and 1975.
He then proceeded to Government Secondary School Dawakin Tofa and later moved to Government Secondary school Lautai in Gumel where he completed his secondary education in 1980.
Abba Kabir Yusuf bagged a National Diploma (ND) from the Federal Polytechnic Mubi in 1985 and a Higher National Diploma (HND) in Civil Engineering from Kaduna Polytechnic in 1989.
He later obtained a postgraduate diploma in management and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Bayero University, Kano.
Gida-Gida’s grandfather, Alhaji Yusuf Bashari, under whom the NNPP governorship candidate started his Islamic education, was Danmakwaiyon Kano and a former District Head of Gaya.
Abba Gida-Gida began his career with the Kano State Water Resources Engineering and Construction Agency (WRECA), Kano State Water Board and later moved to the state Ministry of Water Resources where he held various positions.
He was appointed as Personal Assistant to the then Kano State Governor, Senator Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso and later Special Assistant (Administration) between 1999 – 2003.
Abba worked again with Kwankwaso from 2003 to 2006 when the former governor of Kano State was appointed Minister of Defence.
He served as the Special Assistant to the Special Adviser to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on Darfur/Somalia until 2007.
Abba was also appointed by the late President Umaru Musa Yar’adua as the chairman, Governing Board of the National Institute for Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA), Ondo State from 2009 to 2011.
During Kwankwaso’s second tenure in office, Abba was appointed as the First Principal Private Secretary (PPS) to the governor; and subsequently the state’s Commissioner for Works, Housing and Transport.
The closely contested 2019 governorship election in Kano between the PDP and the ruling APC brought Abba Gida-Gida to the limelight.
Kwankwaso’s anointed candidate contested against the incumbent Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje in an election that was declared inconclusive; but lost after a rerun.
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