By J. Archibong
These are some of the salient qualities that have endeared Dame Patience Jonathan to many. She has been a tower of strength and a source of support and encouragement. She has been an advocate for the rights, growth, and advancement of women. She successfully proved herself as a crusader for women’s advancement.
She had a vision to support and develop women economically and politically. It was in the spirit of the realization of this vision that Dr. Patience Jonathan launched W4CDI. This was an aspect of the MDGs initiative that sought to empower the women of Nigeria to take advantage of the developmental drive and ample opportunities created by the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan.
Her support for women in the general elections was strong, uncompromising, and unflinching. She made sure women’s voices were heard loud and clear. She mobilised women to hold their ground.
It was usual for the First Lady to utilize every opportunity to advise women on the way forward in life. Women must learn to invest for the betterment of the people and the nation. As a woman of creativity and resourcefulness, Mrs. Jonathan counseled women to be inventive, imaginative, and enterprising to achieve more successes as well as bequeath a legacy worthy of emulation.
She enjoined women to identify and be part of the laudable programmes of the Jonathan administration. This would enable them to obtain optimum benefits and well-being derivable from such an association.
The First Lady recognized and praised the role of women as a changing force in society. She thanked and appreciated women for the massive support given to President Jonathan during his election and for continuing to support him in the task of delivering the dividends of democracy to Nigerians.
She urged women to always keep the peace, as the administration of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan had accommodated women in important positions. She was outspoken, strong, and courageous when it came to women’s issues. According to an analyst, “Her outspoken personality and strength of her convictions strive to ensure that all issues and concerns of women and the girl-child in Nigeria are given priority.”
Whenever the need arose, she never hesitated to offer pieces of life-changing advice to the good women of Nigeria. Her charge to them to take the lead in the effort to change the negative terminology was even more apt, as women were better positioned to have a positive impact on society. She said if women directed their spiritedness and exuberance into hard work, Nigeria would achieve the much-cherished and desired unity.
Collaborative efforts
The First Lady’s NGOs flourished through collaborative efforts with other private organizations. This is a noble ideal, since the NGOs may not be able to do it alone. Building a strong partnership has ushered in more dividends and yielded positive results.
One of such partnerships was with the UCP Wheels and African Focus Incorporated, which assisted the A. Aruera Reachout Foundation to provide wheelchairs.
Another private organization that partnered with the First Ladies Women for Change Initiative to provide jobs for 700 women in the Kashton Concept Ltd.
W4CDI has also partnered with the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) to train women as commercial drivers. The First Lady has also commended the NDE for consistently and vigorously pursuing the task of creating jobs for the teeming unemployed youths through training in various skills.
Caring for the environment
The First Lady said at the tree planting, landscaping, and beautification of Airport Road, Abuja, that her NGO, Women for Change and Development Initiative, in collaboration with a private outfit, Kashton Concept Ltd, embarked on the project of beautifying and protecting the environment of Abuja. This project would be consistent and a “good approach towards attaining a sustainable environment which is in line with Goal 7 of the Millennium Development Goals.”
Protecting the environment was the main theme of the 2012 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. As succinctly put by the First Lady: “It would be seen that this tree-planting exercise serves the dual purpose of protecting the environment and ensuring the overall well-being of man.” She also enjoined wives of state governors to “replicate this in their states and encourage wives of local government chairmen to do the same in the local government council.”
Mass mobilizer
As First Lady, she was an ambassador of unity and an astute motivator, a prime mover, an ambassador of unity. She has remained a bridge builder, a unifying force, and a source of inspiration. She always appealed for unity, closer ties, and cooperation between the diverse ethnic groups in the country. The admonition and appeal for unity were highly commendable and timely to enable women to take their rightful place in the scheme of development.
While Dame Patience Jonathan offered women dynamic leadership, the nation’s women offered her quality followership. She registered her appreciation of women and acknowledged the quality of followership from them at the reception for women to mark the fourteenth anniversary of democracy in Nigeria. On that occasion, she distributed different types of gifts to women, the vulnerable, and socially disadvantaged Nigerians. The First Lady thanked women for following her counsel to wake up and exert themselves, and participate politically in the management of public affairs. Democracy remains a successful and veritable tool for the restoration of the dignity of the people, and women cannot afford to stay aloof.
She had been described as a mass mobilizer, an iconic trailblazer with strong grassroots mobilization skills. She brought out 35,000 women for a rally in Abuja tagged “Celebration of Nigerian Women for Peace and Empowerment.” Abuja was brought to a standstill.
Through her mass mobilization initiative, millions of women came out to vote for President Goodluck Jonathan in the 2011 general election. She mobilized the women to ensure a massive turnout and voting for President Jonathan. In terms of political credentials, Dame Patience Jonathan was an active First Lady, a mass mobilizer, and a political asset to the nation.
Advocacy at the Crans Montana forum on Africa
Dame Patience Jonathan represented Nigeria, in particular women and children, at various international fora to articulate the position of Nigerian women and children. At the extraordinary meeting of First Ladies hosted by the Crans Montana Forum on Africa in Brussels, Belgium, she restated the importance of educating women and girls. Educated girls are less promiscuous and less vulnerable to HIV/AIDs, human trafficking, domestic violence, are exploitation. Therefore, for Africa to make progress, women and girls must have equal access to education, she told her audience.
Advocacy at Elysee Summit for Peace and Security in Africa
She was at the forefront of the global campaign to end sexual violence against women. At the Elysee Summit for Peace and Security in Africa, Dame Patience Jonathan advocated stiff punishment for rapists. She had called for a stiff penalty for perpetrators of sexual violence against women. Addressing more than fifty spouses of world leaders in Paris, France, at an advocacy meeting on sexual violence against women, the Nigerian First Lady urged them to use their office and standing to galvanize support for action to end sexual violence and other violations against women. She rejected the argument that sexual violence, which occurs in the context of armed conflict, is an inevitable consequence of war. This, she said, occasioned very calamitous consequences to the dignity of women.
Dame Patience Jonathan urged the United Nations members, particularly leaders from Africa, to dedicate themselves to the successful implementation of UN Resolutions on women. She especially canvassed for dedication to the implementation of Resolution 1325 on the protection of women from sexual violence. It would be recalled that in the year 2000, the United Nations Security Council highlighted the issue of sexual violence against women in armed conflicts as a threat to international peace and security when it passed Resolution 1325. Adopted in October 2000, the resolution calls on all to protect women and girls from sexual violence, vesting specific and substantial responsibility on the international community to take concrete action to prevent and respond to sexual violence against women displaced by conflict. The UN Security Council also adopted Resolution 1820 of June 2008, demanding immediate and complete cessation by all parties to armed conflicts of all acts of sexual violence against women and girls. It was observed that sexual violence has acquired a strategic status as a tactic of warfare.
As one of the ways out of the problem, Dame Patience Jonathan stressed the importance of strategic cooperation and involvement of men in the global action to deal with the problem of rape, stating that “behind every rape, there is a man.” She also recommended to leaders and policymakers the need to promote girl-child education, women’s empowerment, and gender equality as other crucial steps to end sexual violence.
The advocacy meeting, which took place on the sidelines of the Elysee Summit for Peace and Security in Africa, had in attendance the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflicts, Zainab Hawa Bangura. A film depicting sexual violence against women in the D.R. Congo was shown. Eyewitnesses to some of the atrocities also gave their own accounts of the problem in Libya, the Central African Republic, and other war-torn countries. Some First Ladies also addressed the meeting and spoke strongly in favour of a global action to stop sexual violence against women.
Nigeria At ITU Telecom World 2013
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a United Nations specialized agency that coordinates the telecommunication industry at the international level, held the 2013 global forum in Bangkok, Thailand. Tagged ITU Telecommunication World 2013, the meeting brought together governments, UN agencies, and major players in telecommunication to deliberate on crucial issues in the industry, among them sector transformation, broadband revolution, and worldwide connectivity. It brought together major players and leaders in ICT from all parts of the globe to discuss important issues affecting that sector and how this can be utilized for the benefit of people globally.
The forum, hosted by the Kingdom of Thailand, attracted over 6000 top-level participants from 153 countries and from across all branches of the ICT industry. Nigeria made a strong showing at the forum. At the colourful opening ceremony were the Prime Minister of Tonga, Lord Tu’Ivakano, First Lady of Nigeria, Dame Patience Jonathan, and ITU Secretary General, Dr. Hamadoun Toure.
Different countries, including Nigeria, had their pavilions where they exhibited and highlighted to the participants the investment opportunities and potentials in ICT back home.
Child Online Protection Champion
In recognition of her passion for children, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), an agency of the United Nations (UN), appointed Dame Patience Jonathan as the UN International Telecommunication Union, Child Online Protection (COP) Champion. She was to help the ITU in realizing its objective of securing a safe online environment for children. Justifying the appointment, the Secretary-General of the ITU, Hamadoun Toure, said that “Dame Patience Jonathan has demonstrated deep interest in activities of children and young people.” At the investiture ceremony in Geneva, Switzerland, Toure said:
Under her guidance, the government of Nigeria is now taking extensive steps to ensure a safer online environment for children. The ITU is looking forward to collaborating even more closely with Nigeria to build a better future for our children.”
“COP aims to tackle cyber security holistically, addressing legal, technical, organizational, and procedural issues as well as capacity building and international cooperation.”
“It is a great honour for ITU to have the support of Nigeria’s First Lady,” said Dr. Toure.
The Nigerian First Lady would, among other duties, endeavour to develop a secure environment for children in the course of using the internet and also galvanize efforts at reforms in Africa and the rest of the world. In her response, Dame Patience Jonathan promised to build synergy with the ITU to protect children from the prevalence of cybercrime. She said the Child Online Protection Champion (COP) of the ITU was a global effort to ensure online protection for young adults. “I assure you of my commitment to ensuring that the Nigerian child, the African child, and children of the world are protected from all forms of online risks and abuse.”
Director of ITU’s Telecommunication Development Bureau, Brahima Sanou, said, “The COP frame has become a crucial means of creating a safe environment for our children while they are not. Both ITU and IMPACT have faith in Her Excellency’s ability to spread this and push for reforms not only in the Africa region but across the globe.”
Datuk Mohd Noor Amin said, “Her Excellency is both a progressive leader and a renowned humanitarian, and is the ideal candidate to help ITU-IMPACT in its mission to push for COP awareness and the need for national online protection frameworks to protect and support the younger generation online.”
Africa’s Ambassador for Tourism
The growth and diversification of the Nigerian economy heavily depend on the tourist industry. In this regard, the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) named Dame Patience Jonathan the “Tourism Ambassador for Africa.”
The honor was given out on June 26, 2012, during the 53rd meeting of the UNWTO Commission for Africa in Calabar, Nigeria. The award was given in honor of her “monumental commitment and support for women in tourism,” according to UNWTO Secretary-General Mr. Talik Rifai, who gave the presentation.
“Mobilize women and the youth across the continent to help grow tourism, which can help lift people out of poverty and drive economic development,” Dame Patience Jonathan said after accepting the prize.
Cultural Ambassador at African Art and Crafts (AFAC) Expo 2013,
The National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC) in Abuja hosted the African Arts and Crafts Expo (AFAC) 2013, where Dame Patience Jonathan was recognized as a Cultural Ambassador. The NCAC recognized Dame Patience Jonathan at the opening ceremony for her advocacy of Nigerian women in the creative industry and her public support of cultural preservation.
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