Mrs. Jumoke Falayi-Johnson is the chairperson of the Lagos State chapter of the Nigeria Association of Women Journalists, NAWOJ. In this interview by SAKIBU OLOKOJOBI, she speaks on the efforts of her association not only to support female journalists, but to showcase the strength and capacity of women in general in order to ensure adequate representation in leadership positions in the country. Excerpts:
You’ve been in the saddle as NAWOJ chairperson for over a year now. How would you describe the journey so far?
The journey, so far, has been peaceful. We’ve hit some targets, we’ve missed some and we are hoping that inthe next one year we’ll have more impact. When we took over, we started talking about our ideas and what we aim to achieve. First of all, we want to better project the association; put it in the faces of people a little more. And one of the things we did to help propagate that is by ensuring that the association has a website. Now, we document our events on that website, put our stories there. Of course, we have some alliances that we have made. We have pursued some agenda like the reserved seat bill agitation. We were part of that campaign and part of the signing and submission of petitions to all the constituencies in Lagos State. We undertook that. We have constantly trained and retrained our members. This job is not static. We are evolving people because we are dealing with evolving issues in our society. So, we constantly do trainings for our members.
We have also continued to elevate the voices of women. It’s something we are very clear and loud about in NAWOJ. So, we have a programme that we do monthly, where we identify a leading light in any sector of the society; we do a short video about the achievements – their education and how far they have come in their field. And then, we do a press release and publish in all our platforms. NAWOJ as an association has over 700 members in Lagos State alone. All of these people have one platform or the other. We also have so many independent journalists with their online newspapers and so on. We are together and working to ensure that we have a voice and populate the leadership spaces in the society.
What has the feedback been like? Would you say your activities have indeed been impactful in the last one year?
We believe the activities are the right things to do. They are not things we would be able to measure in terms of impact, in the immediate term. The feedback has been minimal and restricted, but because we know that this is an agenda we must pursue for the greater good of all and we know that it is a long time game, we’ll continue with it. We know that someday, we’ll see the full picture and we would be able to concretely measure the impact.
There was crisis in NAWOJ a couple of years ago. What is the present situation in the group? Has peace been fully restored or you still have knotty issues to solve?
It’s been peaceful. Actually, peace had been restored before I came on board. That was why my coming on board was peaceful. There has been stability for the past six years. My predecessor came on board through a turbulent process, but then peace was restored. You know, with any group of people, particularly with the great number we have, there are bound to be issues, disagreement and different points of views. However, there has not been any division or bitterness. We have been a peaceful association for the past six years. Till this moment, we have enjoyed peaceful collaboration and co-existence as a body.
How would you say journalism or the society has benefitted from the existence of NAWOJ?
Sometimes, you may not be able to measure what you are doing as an individual body because it is not a one man show; it involves different groups, different people with different agenda; different point of views and different strategies. We all come together to fuse into one and move our country forward. We must understand that as women journalists, we have contributed greatly to the powers and peace that women enjoy in this country. It is a continuous journey because every day, something shifts; everyday something gives. It is something that they have been doing even before we are here. The summation of all the privileges we enjoy as women’s rights now resulted from the journey some people began decades before us, and that process has been handed to us to continue to ensure that we hand over to the next generation. The future generations will play their own part and hand it over to others until we get exactly what we desire. We are not there yet, but things are gradually going to take shape.
The idea is to show the strength and capacity of women. In showing their strength and capacity, consideration would be given to the quality they can bring to leadership in our country.
Women are generally said to be under reported. Do you agree with this position?
Definitely women are under reported. Under representation naturally results in under reportage. This is because we have a male dominated society, especially in leadership positions. That is why we are talking about more representation for women – more seats, more positions, for women. We are also concerned about the quality of reportage as it has to do with women. We want to quickly nip that in the bud now so that with more representation, the reportage will improve.
What is NAWOJ actually doing to ensure adequate reportage for women and good representation of women as you have canvassed?
One is being part of an event such as the “Dialogue on Gender-Sensitive Reporting and Media Coverage of Women in Nigeria” by the International press Centre in partnership with the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Presidential Centre for Women and Development. The event was held from September 16 to 18, 2026. This is to ensure that we have our gender’s rights.
We were part of the agitation for the reserved seats bill; we were part of the signing and submission of petitions. NAWOJ is also doing its best to ensure that issues that affect women are in the public for debate and of course for enlightenment and awareness. We are talking to different organisations to ensure that issues that affect women are addressed. And of course, we are showcasing women in a better light because we do not want the entire conversation to be about the plight of women. We also want to celebrate women. In NAWOJ we do that.
What impact would you say the possible increase in the reportage of women and their activities would have on the society at the end of the day?
The idea is to show the strength and capacity of women. In showing their strength and capacity, consideration would be given to the quality they can bring to leadership in our country. That is where we are paying attention. It’s not just to talk about women, but to bring the issues of women to the fore. How do you talk about these issues? How do you bring women to light and how do you talk about issues that affect them. Are you helping to elevate their voices for impact, addressing some of these issues or are you contributing to the excuses that are being made for women not given prominence? So, these are areas we hope to see change.
What would be your message to members of your group or women in general?
My message is to my fellow NAWOJians, members of the Lagos State chapter, because our association is constituted largely by young women who are starting off their platforms or their organisations with very minimal funding and little manpower. It can be stressful and overwhelming sometimes. My message to them is never to give up. Giving up is not an option. They must continue to fight for what is right; speak to the powers that be and ensure that messages that impact the lives of women and the vulnerable in the society are put in the public for people to know about them, and for people to lend their voices for things to be better for them. I know that it might be tough getting things done, but I tell you that as they do not despise their humble beginning, they will definitely yield the reward of a greater future.
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