Adamawa First Lady Honoured For Humanitarian Services

The Association of Proprietors of Private Media Establishment of Nigeria (APPMEN) has honoured former Adamawa State first lady, Ambassador Dr Zainab Boni Haruna, for her humanitarian service and inaugurated its Lagos State Council to strengthen professionalism, protection and economic opportunities for private media practitioners.

Haruna, who served as first lady from 1999 to 2007, was decorated as a Nigeria We Want Ambassador for Humanitarian Service and Social Impact and appointed a member of APPMEN’s National Advisory Council at a ceremony in Abuja on Friday.

The national coordinator of APPMEN, Chief Precious Enebuse, said the honour recognised Haruna’s contributions to rural empowerment through her Rural Empowerment Acceleration Programme (REAP) and her continued commitment to humanitarian service after leaving office.

He said her appointment to the council, the association’s highest advisory organ, would enable APPMEN to benefit from her experience and networks in advancing private media practice.

In her response, Haruna said she initially questioned the rationale for honouring public officeholders for duties associated with their positions but accepted after being convinced of APPMEN’s credibility and vision.

She pledged to support the development of private media and humanitarian reporting.

In a related development, APPMEN inaugurated its Lagos State Council on Saturday, October 10, at Alimosho, Lagos, with its National Coordinator, Enebuse, presiding virtually from Abuja.

The newly inaugurated council, led by State Coordinator Princess Agbonifo, unveiled a three-point agenda of professionalism, protection and prosperity to address challenges facing private media proprietors.
Agbonifo announced plans for quarterly training in fact-checking, investigative journalism, digital monetisation and artificial intelligence through the APPMEN Institute for Communication and Media Studies.

She also pledged to establish a Rapid Response Desk to assist members facing harassment or intimidation and to engage the Lagos State Government and security agencies on media protection.

Under the prosperity agenda, the council plans to pursue corporate advertising partnerships and establish a cooperative to facilitate access to digital-platform monetisation, grants and loans. Agbonifo set a target for every financially active member to generate income through the council’s initiatives by October 2027.

In a message to the inauguration, APPMEN’s Grand Patron described Lagos as a historic centre of Nigerian journalism, recalling the establishment of Iwe Irohin by Reverend Henry Townsend in 1859.
He urged the council to uphold professional standards, embrace digital media practitioners and establish a fact-checking hub and advertising network to improve collaboration and financial sustainability.

The Lagos Council, in a communiqué, pledged loyalty to the national leadership and called on unregistered private media proprietors in the state to join the association.
APPMEN says it has more than 1,000 members nationwide. Its flagship Nigeria We Want Project seeks to recognise credible Nigerians and promote a positive national narrative.