Unfortunately, the advent of some unauthorised online media outfits and social media platforms in recent time is increasingly making virtually everyone practise from the comfort of their rooms. This, therefore, has given rise to malicious, mischievous and misleading information.
With respect to the aforementioned, in recent days, Her Excellency, the First Lady of Bauchi State, Hajiya (Dr) Aisha Bala Muhammad, was at Futuk community of Alkaleri Local Government, to extend her hand of gesture to rural women by empowering them to acquire skills and start small scale businesses, so that self-reliance can be actualised at the grassroot level.
Despite this well-intentioned move to positively touch the lives of rural women, her humanitarian efforts provoked controversial debates, following some pictures that went viral in which she appeared distributing bags of sachet water. Some online media outlets and social media users cashed in on this and gave the wrong impression that it was the water alone that was distributed, whereas other items such as spaghetti making machines, bags of flour powder, among others, were also distributed. At least, 250 youths and women were trained in various economic skills and some money was disbursed to enable them to start their businesses. It’s important to note that the items donated by Her Excellency under the umbrella of her Al-Muhibba Foundation were in favourable response to the exact request of the beneficiaries.
One would ask why neglect all other juicy details of the event, deliberately underreporting other self empowerment tools donated, while sensationalising bags of sachet water? The answer to this question must prove beyond reasonable doubt that the report going viral is lopsided; therefore, baseless and preposterous, mischievously designed to put the First Lady’s reputation and foundation to disgrace.
The foundation has been in existence for over a decade, that’s long before her husband, Sen. Bala Muhammad came on board as the governor and ever since the foundation came into being, it has been relentlessly and tirelessly rendering support for the general well being of the less privileged in the society, especially women, children and the youth, addressing their problems and needs. The question to ask is, why these unauthorised and social media reporters did not dig deep and let the people know the antecedents of the foundation. This spells how subjective these critics are.
The generosity of humanitarian efforts of Her Excellency, Haliya Aisha Bala Muhammad to give her time and be in the midst of rural women alone, is worthy of commendation and a testament to her great concern about the plight of the poor and the needy. And for her to be in attendance at the event, mingling freely with the crowd of rural women, one must humbly submit it’s nothing but the intensity and the enormity of her love and care for them.
It’s unwise to be subjecting to politics, concrete projects and programmes and indulging in destructive criticisms out of hatred and acrimony with the intention of painting one another black, on ground of political differences.
It’s pertinent, on the other hand, to imbibe the habit of burying political distinction and party affiliation, when it comes to developmental programmes in the best interest and for the betterment of all citizens from across the political spectrum. But this is not to discourage constructive criticism as it improves performance while destructive hinders attention. It’s important to understand that kindness is worth reciprocity by at least giving credit to whom it deserves.
Sulaiman Maijama’a writes from Faculty of Communication, Bayero University, Kano.
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