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Hakama Sidi-Ali: The CBN’s First Feminine Spokesperson and Status Administration
By Abdulrahman Abdulraheem
From time immemorial, ladies have defied the chances to step as much as the management problem in good and dangerous instances. Way back to the early twentieth Century, ladies in Aba and Abeokuta organised themselves and protested towards colonial-era organised oppression, and so they achieved outcomes. The l iconic Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti and heroinic Gambo Sawaba from the South and North led from the entrance in combating and advocating for ladies’s rights and gender parity even at a time when full Western civilisation was nonetheless removed from this a part of the world.
Whereas males take all of the credit score for every part, and other people declare it’s a males’s world, there are situations within the historical past of mankind the place males have taken the again seat and women-led from the entrance. Margaret Thatcher, Benazir Bhutto, and Indira Gandhi, amongst others, raised the stakes of girls’s participation in governance via their glorious achievements, ardour, and oratorical prowess. Mom Theresa grew to become probably the most potent philanthropist within the century, profitable the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for placing smiles on the faces of children, ladies and the weak worldwide.
All these occurred earlier than the entry into power of the Conference on Elimination of All Types of Discrimination towards Girls (CEDAW), a global invoice of rights for ladies that was adopted by the United Nations (UN) Normal Meeting and a long time down the road after the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Motion, which set the worldwide goal for reaching gender equality in political decision-making, a variety of water has handed below the bridge.
Since then, the world’s consciousness has been targeted on the plight of girls, particularly the formidable and good ones who’ve loads to supply however are by no means given an opportunity to contribute their quota to governance {and professional} areas. Because of the shortage of girls on the apex of political energy, in addition to lack of strategies to disentangle the potential sources of this under-representation, Marilyn Loden, an American author, coined the phrase “glass ceiling” and provoked the United Nations and its associates to provoke the 35 per cent affirmative motion and different initiatives and measures meant to widen the political house for ladies.
The Central Financial institution of Nigeria (CBN) has existed since 1958, and it has been led by at the least 12 governors and a number of other spokespersons. Both by deliberate motion, omission fee or co-incidence, not one of the spokespersons has been feminine.
A Licensed PR Practitioner Shatters the Glass Ceiling
The CBN helped to shatter the glass ceiling not too long ago by appointing knowledgeable Public Relations practitioner, Mrs Hakama Sidi Ali, as its Appearing Director of Company Communications.
Mrs Hakama Sidi-Ali not solely shattered the glass ceiling by turning into the primary lady to be appointed CBN spokesperson and a member of the Nigeria Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), however her appointment additionally fulfilled all skilled and authorized necessities.
Mrs Sidi Ali got here into the workplace totally ready. She served as Deputy Director in the identical Division on the Financial institution earlier than her newest appointment.
The brand new CBN spokesperson is a 1992 graduate of the Bayero College, Kano, the place she bagged a Bachelor of Arts diploma in Mass Communication.
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She additionally has an MSc in Mass Communication and PGDE in English Language. Other than NIPR, Mrs Ali can be a member of different respected skilled our bodies just like the Chartered Institute of Mortgage and Threat Administration (CILRM), Chartered Institute of Personnel Administration of Nigeria (CIPMN), Africa Growth Research Centre (ADSC), Toastmasters Worldwide and plenty of others.
The credit score for the appointment of the primary feminine spokesperson within the historical past of CBN should first go to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Vice-President Kashim Shettima, who, of their election-winning manifesto, promised that gender parity and ladies empowerment when it comes to appointment and welfare could be their precedence. The hardworking CBN Governor, Mr Olayemi Cardoso, whose pen stroke led to this landmark feat, additionally deserves commendation for his open thoughts and understanding of his management function in up to date Nigeria.
Sidi Ali’s Strides in Status Administration
Her rise to the CBN Public Relations desk’s sizzling seat is the definition of “what a person can do, a lady can do higher.” It’s because she got here into workplace when the Apex financial institution had but to get better from the incalculable reputational problem over the money confiscation coverage of the Godwin Emefiele period.
As a well-read communication guru and PR knowledgeable, Hakama knew she had her job lower out for her. The load of accountability on her shoulders didn’t render her confused or clueless, and she or he didn’t wallow in self-pity. She simply summoned braveness and hit the bottom operating.
Up to now, so good! The CBN spokesperson used each PR software within the guide to revive the arrogance of Nigerians within the Apex Financial institution. In just some weeks in workplace, her glorious shuttle diplomacy, strong media relations and proactive media engagements have helped to rebuild a improbable goodwill for the CBN.
Primarily based on the extensively held misinformation that outdated naira notes would not be authorized tenders on December 31, 2023, the nation would have been enmeshed in one other money shortage disaster which may have led to a conflagration if not for the well timed, articulate, and well-written press statements she launched to douse stress. Primarily based on her proactive strategy to public engagement, Nigerians didn’t see the necessity to hoard money or get entangled in any unlawful practices forward of the yuletide, which may have brought about extreme chaos.
One in all her well timed press statements additionally introduced that there was sufficient money in circulation for Nigerians who required it earlier than the vacation.
Whereas Christmas is a season of introspection and celebration for many Nigerians, it’s a interval of criminality for the unscrupulous few who use it to commerce faux currencies and buy meals gadgets in markets. When Hakama obtained wind of this, she didn’t permit it to turn into an epidemic earlier than rising to the event so harmless sellers wouldn’t fall sufferer to the criminality. In her press assertion, she warned banks and merchants to double-check the forex notes that come to them to make sure they don’t seem to be receiving faux ones.
As soon as bitten, twice shy. Nigerians have, previously, fallen sufferer to failed banks and misplaced billions of naira. So, when the hearsay of one other spherical of financial institution failure hit the airwaves not too long ago, the CBN spokesperson didn’t permit Nigerians to press the panic button earlier than she delivered one other lucid press assertion affirming that Nigerian banks are stable and steady and are very removed from collapse. This clarification from her workplace went a protracted strategy to treatment hypertension and decrease individuals’s blood stress. It additionally forestalled what may have been a panic-motivated mass withdrawal of monies from banks by Nigerians.
Final Line
There isn’t a doubt that Sidi Ali’s presence has restored the picture of the CBN as a accountable, responsive, and delicate organisation that may all the time put the nation and the individuals first in all it does and says.
Abdulrahman Abdulraheem, the Managing Editor of Economic Confidential, authors “eNaira Revolution: A Peep into Nigeria’s Cashless Future.”
