A mother in politics, the empowerment impact of Rep Aishatu Jibril Dukku
A mother in politics, the empowerment impact of Rep Aishatu Jibril Dukku
By Peterson Diamond from Gombe
Mothers are special breeds of human not just in view of their divine role to the existence and continuity of life on earth but also in view of the special cares they exhibit beyond human measures towards securing for humanity the needed comfort there is.
When it comes to alleviating the sufferings of children and humanity, mothers have that magical touch to ensure that children are kept safe even if it means they have to relinquish their pleasures in exchange for the pains of their society. This explains why a mother could sell her personal belongings to pay her child’s school fees.
When mothers go into politics then you know you have a good deal in representation because they are naturally democrats whose style of democracy is premised on the principles of equality, fairness and justice. It has been held in opinions and facts that women’s involvement in politics is essential to the achievement of equality, sustainable development, peace and democracy and the inclusion of their perspectives and experiences into the decision-making processes.
The story of Rep Aishatu Jibril Dukku, a member of the House of Representatives representing Dukku/Nafada Federal Constituency in Gombe State who is popularly known to her constituents as ‘Mama’ and her love for empowering people with special preference for children and women in Gombe state is one that cannot be ignored.
Since coming to power, Aishatu has initiated astonishing developmental projects aimed at reducing the risk of people going into poverty in her constituents. Poverty we know is a major challenge that humanity in recent times have faced especially as worsened by COVID-19 pandemic and if people are not empowered to fight this menace, peace might elude the society and it is in that light that Aishatu has continually embarked, relentlessly on empowering women, youths, physically-challenged persons and children.
On April 13, just as Muslim faithful started observing the Ramadan fast, Aishatu was in Nafada to flag off distribution of over N110 million worth of items to her constituents. The items donated included 100 motorcycles, 200 sewing machines, six vehicles, 50 wheelchairs for the physically challenged persons, 21 grinding machines, 21 water pumps for dry season farming, Camp gas, 30 deep freezers, 100 Pots, 24 cartons of noodles and N2,043,000 cash to All Progressives Congress (APC) members in her constituency.
This is not the first time she was doing this. In fact to many it has become a norm which earned her the name ‘Mama’. Aishatu has no doubt represented the women folks in Gombe state in good light and this buttresses that assumption that women can deliver on any political assignment in as satisfactorily a manner as possible. The impact of her empowerment drive has shown to the world that Mama Aishatu is not in the political arena to amass wealth for self but to give good account of her stewardship in line with what children expect of their mothers.
Within the last six years, Rep Aishatu has done monumentally well in terms of empowering her constituents just to improve the wellbeing and welfare of her people. In her quest to ensure the issue of security of her people is not left to the government alone, she built a police station in Dukku and bought cars for local vigilantes while patrol vehicles have been donated to personnel of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) to enhance their patrol so as to better protect her people and also the construction of rural access roads have not been left out. She is also making efforts to enhance power generation by supplying transformers to boost micro businesses that will transform the economic activities and enhance the wellbeing of the people of Dukku and Nafada.
She has installed solar lightening system for Tsangaya and Almajiri schools while also supporting the state government’s Gombe Goes Green (3G) project to ensure a cleaner and safer environment for the people of Dukku and Nafada.
Speaking during the ceremony, Aishatu said her aim of donating the items was to empower and reciprocate the support she received from her people.
“I cannot quantify the amount of support I enjoyed from my constituents, this is my own little way of telling them thank you,” she said.
In a world where appreciation is increasingly short in supply particularly in politics as many representatives sometimes fail to deliver on their mandates or even approach the people who voted them into power until the year of another election, Mama Aishatu has made it a duty to always visit her constituents for the purpose of empowering them and ensuring that they are comfortable as a people with good representation.
It’s said that good governance is a universal responsibility, shared by both women and men; In Gombe state, Mama Aishatu is fulfilling that responsibility in her own unique way by bringing good governance to the grassroots through series of empowerment programmes and initiatives just as Gov Inuwa Yahaya is delivering on his mandate too with lots of trailblazing projects aimed at eradicating poverty especially in rural areas.
After the donation, a 12-year-old Sanusi Yahaya who is physically-challenged and was aided with a brand new wheel chair said “I want to thank Mama for this. I cannot pray enough for her but may Allah grant her wishes in life.’’
Yahaya added “I have always dreamt of a wheel chair to help me get to school effortlessly but I kept using my wooden crutches while imagining how it will seem like to own a wheel chair and this gift (the wheel chair) which is free came in Ramadan.’’
An American diplomat, Henry Kissinger said “the task of the leader is to get their people from where they are to where they have not been.” In deed Mama has given Yahaya a new experience while aiding his access to education. This is what leadership entails in its basic definition.
In a country like ours where the space for women in politics is increasing getting tighter as political penetration by women have become a difficult task due to the many obvious factors, but with the transformational approach to leadership as it is being driven by Rep Aishatu Jibril Dukku, women’s penetration in politics, especially in Gombe, is now being addressed by her. With Aishatu’s developmental strides and grassroots penetration of good governance, the young girls she is busy educating now won’t have any challenge telling people to trust women with political positions in the near future as examples of what a woman and mother can do in politics abound in Rep Aishatu Dukku’s people-centered style of politics.
