14032019 -Rowdy session in Senate over elections

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28 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, MARCH 14, 2019 IWD: Why we’re equipping women and men for gender balance coverage — Alaka •says a balanced newsroom is a better newsroom By Ebunoluwa Sessou JOINING its voice to others in celebrating the 2019 International Women’s Day, the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism has said it is not only working for a #BalanceforBetter newsroom, but that it is intentionally equipping women and men for a gender-balanced media coverage. In a statement signed by the Centre Coordinator, Motunrayo Alaka, the call for gender parity across board is an ultimate call for a better functional world. According to her: “The importance of women in society has always been undeniably huge. Women have proven that they are also full members of society having their influence on all areas unconditionally. Our societies are evolving, so also our attitudes and outlooks; women are no longer relegated in the various spheres of life and this is amazing. “However, the percentages and ratio of female to male being heard is unimpressively low. The 2019 IWD theme: Balance for Better, illustrates how there is an urgent need for a balance of roles played between the female and male gender in the society. “Society says the woman is too short, too tall, too talkative, too quiet, not skilled enough, too skilled. When it’s her turn, the men in charge raise questions. It is the primitive patriarchy way but it is only a matter of time. Change has happened. Society will have to catch up. The Wole Soyinka Centre of Investigative Journalism took to training female reporters and journalists through the ReportWomen! Female Reporters Leadership Programme , FRLP, supported by Free Press Unlimited, FPU, thereby equipping them with the right skills and tools to take on leadership roles as they influence gender mainstreaming in their newsrooms which in due course, affects every facet of the society. “ReportWomen is a project of the WSCIJ. It was launched in 2014 with the collaboration of the Royal Netherlands Embassy with the goal of increasing the reportage of the issues of access and abuse as they affect girls and women in Nigeria. It initially trained 80 reporters across Nigeria, commissioned more than 31 published stories and produced a documentary: The untold stories of girls and women in Nigeria, thereby contributing to bettering the existential realities of girls and women. Given some stories from the Fellows speak to why the call for balance for better is not just a women’s issue, but a call to drive a better working world, Akala revealed that, reports by female reporters are evident that there is more to do in terms of reporting issues relating to women and the girl-child. By Elizabeth Uwandu PROFESSOR Olabisi U g b e b o r is the first woman to be a Professor of Mathematics from the University of Ibadan, her alma mater. Born in Lagos and educated at Queen’s College, she gained admission to study Mathematics in 1969 at the University of Ibadan. She is among the few Nigerians who got a scholarship from secondary education to the Ph.D level. Prof. Ugbebor, a guest speaker at the event, spoke on Electioneering; the sad reality of the relegation of women to the background and the rise of girl-child molestation among other things. The Mathematician of repute lamented that only two candidates were known during the election. “Why has it always been a two-way race in all our elections? From 1999 to date, only two candidates matter, no matter how long and how many choices we have. Why? Why are we not prepared to take a chance and look at other candidates? “The election should be on the best irrespective of sex. See Nigerian women for instance, they are one of the best educated in the world because our fathers and mothers did not discriminate against us. Yet, someone said that he is a presidential candidate and refused to elect a vicepresident who is a woman. “However, the issue of insurgency and insecurity hinder over 50 per cent of Nigeria’s best brains. Insurgency crises affect children and adolescents very badly. They cannot go to school, they are not settled, their hands are in their mouths. Ten to 20 per cent of children worldwide now suffer from mental disorder. Can you imagine a child on her way to school being kidnapped? She may go mad because these are things they have not experienced before. These are things that are not part of our history; depression has not been part of our history. Think of Leah Sharibu. In the whole of Africa, it is expected that five per cent of the population aged 15 and above, suffer from mental disorder. “These were not so when I was a little child. We were happy jumping up and down. All our houses were shrubs, nobody had high gates and everybody was everybody else’s keeper. In my neighborhood in Lagos when I was growing up, if a •Motunrayo Alaka Sexual abuse: If I was molested, how would I have become a professor? — Prof. Ugbebor •Prof. Ugbebor Christian is in labour, an Alhaji will come out by 2 am bring out his car and help her. Are these things here today? “I will like to ask the local government chairman, how many primary health care delivery systems do you have? How many members of the House of Assembly have donated part of their constituency allowance to ensure that these clinics have doctors? What about violence against children, how many cases were dealt with? How many children were removed from such a situation? These are the questions to ask in order to make choices in the future. “Again, I do not care what people have been asking before. But what about security? There is a village close to Abuja where girls have stopped going to school because there are no good roads and transporters cannot ply that route. They trek miles to go to school and on their way back, they are kidnapped. “What is the Councillor or the potential Councillor doing? I am telling you if roads are fixed, and the vehicle can ply, parents will tell the drivers to look after their children. “If I were molested on my way to school, I will not be a Professor of Mathematics today. We were protected by this country. We were the apples of our parents’ eyes. Nobody dared touch us. And then people give away their children at 13 to become the fourth, fifth wife when brains are being honed when they are supposed to study mathematics, physics and economics to take Nigeria out of doldrums. According to her, everyone has a role to play in ensuring a gender-balance for a better economy and state. The media plays the role of a gatekeeper, scorekeeper, and a watchdog. This goes a long way in ensuring equity in society and the shaping of public opinions. A balanced newsroom looks at stories from every side. Balance makes both equal. Equal makes both better and better yields more gain! Balance drives a better working world. “Today, the importance of women in society is beyond any suspicion. Women with their ambitions, intelligence and strength have proved that the word “inferior,” has nothing in common with their gender,” she said. Speaking on poverty alleviation and unemployment, she said: “Do you know that there are no programmes for poverty alleviation? This government has disappointed us over and over again. Everybody put their mind in this current president, that when he comes, everything will be okay. But alas, disappointment is now a welcome song. And everybody says to your tent O Israel. Let us go back to regionalism. If we had not been tribalistic, Nigeria would have been a giant in the world. On education Now, educational policy has to do with poverty. There is a formula in Mathematics called markup chain theory. It has been able to prove that if a woman scrubbing floor and has a brilliant son or daughter and he is allowed free education or scholarship, that child can buy a house for the mother in her lifetime. But when you remove all these opportunities, as scholarships are not available, people become all kinds of things. Education is not well funded, mathematics education is dysfunctional; education should be encouraged to a high level. We are very brilliant in Nigeria, but we need moral character. A strong correlation exists between the understanding of mathematics and its pursuit to research on the one hand and economic prosperity on the other hand. If all these indices that affect our choices are put into place, education, good road, quality health care system etc., there will be no rigging in the election.
Vanguard, THURSDAY, MARCH 14, 2019 — 29
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Page 31 and 32: PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari recently
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14032019 -Rowdy session in Senate over elections

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