New Face Of Rivers NAWOJ

The event that witnessed and announced the baptism of Ms Inale Ndubere Kodu as the Chairman of the Rivers State Chapter of National Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ) in Port Harcourt did not go beyond three hours, but it left members of the association in Rivers State beaming with joy and smiles. To these ones, it was a dawn of a new era, for they expect to savour the experience in a long time to come.

From her acceptance address immediately after her inauguration as the new Chairman, Ms Inale Ndubere Kodu did not leave anybody in doubt as to her capability in steering the boat of the Rivers State chapter of the National Association of Women Journalists entrusted in her care.

In a chat with our correspondent, the new Chairman of NAWOJ,  Rivers State, extemporaneously x-rayed the body called NAWOJ Rivers, its challenges and expressed unequivocally how she intends to reactivate and make it get to its eventual and expected destination.

In her words, she said “one of my main hopes is that we resuscitate the association. We have to start by knowing first and foremost the numerical strength of the professional female journalists in the state. As I speak with you, the exco is already creating a data base of the female journalists in Rivers State. This we think will help us assess what comes out of the collaborative effort we intend to embark on.

When we came on board, we saw the need for a  secretariat for the association to operate from, that we have quickly secured and for now, the Rivers State NAWOJ has an office in the NUJ temporary building within The Tide premises.

In trying to reposition the association, we intend collaborating with the Rivers State government especially the governor’s wife, Dame Judith Amaechi on her laudable project the Empowerment Support Initiative (ESI).

Through the collaboration, a lot of public enlightenment will be carried out by the female journalists in the state to ensure the sustainability of the programme and see to it that the women especially the rural women understand the need to key into programmes on ground.

There is also the issue of health in terms of reducing maternal mortality in the state. We are also aiming to divert women’s mind from superstitious beliefs especially on cases of infertility.

As the saying goes, knowledge is power, in Rivers State we know that a lot emphasis had been placed on education. The women in the state are the mothers of the youths and home makers, if they be properly informed on how they can gain access to most of the educational facilities put in place by my administration, they would be better positioned to advise their children and wards on how to go about their educational pursuit.

Women will also have to know the importance of getting themselves educated as well, no matter how old they think they might be.

Basically, the new face of the Rivers NAWOJ intends to give women in Rivers State a voice that will be heard in every sector of the society whether it be in the area of politics, business or professional capacity.

Women will play a major role in the developmental plans of the state government.

Women are passionate and are best  understood by their fellow women, that is why NAWOJ intends to be actively involved in every aspect of gender issue  that concerns women.

We are also interested in producing more 21st century female journalists, since the world had gone global, we can’t lag behind. There will be ample opportunities  for members to be sponsored on fellowship’ abroad. This we think will help them mingle with other foreign journalists and exchange  experiences with one another. This is a project of uthermost importance  to my exco and right now, we have had favourable responses”.

Ms Inale  who sees  female journalists as a people saddled with the responsibility of protecting the interest of the society calls on them to rise up to their responsibility by way of making enough impact as to correct some disadvantaged  stands of women in terms of politics, education, health and economic emancipation.

She also enjoins women generally to see themselves as God’s gifts to the world hence the need to view themselves as a veritable instruments in fighting the ills bedeviling the society they have given birth to.

It will be recalled that the Nigeria Association of Women Journalists, Rivers State, had on the 25th August, 2011 elected a new executive council to pilot its affairs for the next three years.

Sylvia ThankGod-Amadi