When a woman decides to explore her potentials and make an impact in a society, she is unstoppable. That is exactly what Farida Barau does. She has earned a reputation of altruism, especially ,giving motherly care to the orphans and, vulnerable kids and the poor.
Born in Katsina town, Hajiya Farida has decided to touch lives in her altruistic way and make a difference in the lives of others. Her acts of benovelence are rare, among women elites. She earns the title of Uwar Marayun Katsina, meaning mother of Katsina orphans.
Born in the early ’80s to the prominent family of Dr Barau, a renown Katsina-based medical doctor in the ’70s, Farida hails from areputable family imbued with sympathy, care-giving and above all, serving lives.
Over the years, she serves as a mentor extraordinaire, a coach, a relationship therapist and a teacher to thousand of women and youths in Katsina and beyond, especially with the influx of social media handles.
Farida attended primary school and had her secondary education in Katsina. But she was married off at an early age, and later in her matrimonial home, she pursued her NCE studies at the National Teachers Institute (NTI). Her educational ambition again took her to the university where she bagged a Bachelor’s degree. Equipped with learning and parental upbringing, she is adjudged an educated woman of means by any measure.
Her working experience
She secured a job with Katsina government where she served and influenced minds of many young people in the process. Prior to that, she ventured private busoness on a large scale in her matrimonial home which makes her less dependent on her husband and relatively self-reliant and that continues till today.
To further expand her horizon, Farida was a social mobiliser around the year 2013, under which she trained about 2000 women and youths in various vocational skills ranging from soap making, cosmetology, ICT and stuff.
As a bookworm, she reads many books on a wide range of issues. In addition to her concern against social ills such as domestic violence, drug abuse and other socially disapproved behaviours, she became a counsellor to young people whom she helped to train her target groups, mostly women and youths.
Her societal contributions
Having achieved many things, Hajiya Farida extended her tentacles to establishing an NGO in the name of het husband, Nura Khalil Foundation, under which she makes contributions in uplifting the target groups in a more formal way. Besides free guidance and Counselling she offers to women, young girls and youths, she helps train young girls and women on vocational skills and other stuff, while in the same vein, financially wmpower them to be self reliant . So far, over 1,000 persons have benefitted and moved on to earn a living, thus becoming self-reliant. And the number still counting.
Hajiya Farida provides vocational skill coaching to all manner of people. Her passion to help people help themselves gives her joy and fortunes in the process, in addition to accolades, fame and recognition across many areas in Katsina metropolis and beyond.
Her online platform
Farida is culturally oriented and activist of a sort. As a Hausa woman who believes in substance and relevance of customs and traditions, her presence on the social media is so deep that, she has many followers on Twitter and Facebook handles which make an impressive impact on the lives of many.
Her politics
She was equipped with political mindset, and as such trained with political consciousness and mindset to change the seeming unpleasant narratives of siciopolitical and economic despondency, laxity and orthodox culture of fatalism. She thus embraces many things – learning, skills acquisition, social work, farming guidance and counselling, and then later partisan politics.
What pushed her into politics was basically her husband, whom have been in politics since 1999, and many times gubernatorial candidate in Katsina State who had once won the polls in 2003 against Umaru Yar’Adua’s PDP, but the victory snatched from him.
So, prevalence of social predicaments that often leave her startled and heartbroken as well as given her sleepless nights for days.
Being educated and versatile, Farida embraced politics as her husband’s vocation and its necessity in making impact on the lives of populace. According to her, a person who knows his mettle must get involved in politics and political processes in order to partake in changing the course of history. So, she played a key role in garnering support for the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) and her husband’s gubernatorial ambition in the recently concluded 2023 polls
Despite the NNPP’s unsuccessful sojourn, Hajiya Farida still identifies with the party, of which her hubby is its symbol and emblem. She never wavered or changed course despite her husband’s failure, due partly to massive electoral rigging and not voters’ rejection.
Having stuck to the NNPP, coupled with her rapport with women and youths around her, she attracted attention from all corners, thus making her a real mother of orphans and help-seekers. She served as mentor, a leader and a mother of a sort. In the build-up of 2023 when NNPP came to the political scene as a force to reckon with, she went round across the state campaigning for real change, despite its tediousness. In fact, she was the most travelled wife of any guber candidate during electioneering campaigns in Katsina State in 2023.
After the polls, she has continued to engage in humanitarian activities against the norm of politicians forgetting people they had once lobby for votes. Hajiya Farida is still visible among the masses, helping them in every way she deem fit. At many fora, she reiterated that, her support for the masses continue, saying, ”We did not begin to stop.” The journey being a long and tedious one starts now. After the 2023 polls, she has already been holding meetings, re-energising her base for the gigantic task of supporting her rightful candidate who shall bting much-needed change for betterment of the polity as a whole, and Katsina State in particular.
Hajiya Farida remains a loyal ally to the NNPP causes and strong supporter of her hubby at all time. she never wavered in her resolve to make her impact felt on the lives of the people, especially the radical movement of her husband, Engr. Nura Khalil, who is a household name in both private, public and political environment, and the NNPP stalwart par excellence.
Her recent philantrophy in this month of Ramadan whereby she uses money for her umrah, the lesser hajj, to feed the people in Katsina State is an unprecedentef act more worthy of Allah’s reward, which ought to be praised by all right-thinking people anywhere. Its a feat of both spiritual, social and moral applause
She is a woman of substance and means for the good of the people and nation, and of course, worthy of emulation by the women elite.
* Kakaki, a writer, a journalist, and social commentator, lives in Kaduna
