Citation: Toluhi, O.J. & Aderibigbe, R. (2026). Van Dijk’s Sociocognitive Approach: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s International Women’s Day Tributes. Tasambo Journal of Language, Literature, and Culture, 5(1), 99-109. www.doi.org/10.36349/tjllc.2026.v05i01.011.
VAN DIJK’S
SOCIOCOGNITIVE APPROACH: A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF BOLA AHMED TINUBU’S
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY TRIBUTES
By
Oladele John TOLUHI
Department of English
and Literary Studies
Federal University
Lokoja
E – Mail: oladeletoluhi@gmail.com
Phone No: +2349020717478
&
Rachael ADERIBIGBE
Department of Basic
Sciences
Federal College of
Forestry Mechanisation, Kaduna
E-mail:
rachel.aderibigbe@gmail.com
Phone No: +2348065770318
Abstract
International Women’s Day (IWD) is celebrated
worldwide to recognise women’s achievements and to reaffirm the pursuit of
gender parity. In Nigeria, however, long-standing patriarchal norms and
structural gender gaps continue to shape both lived realities and political
communication. As a result, tributes from national leaders on this day frequently
mirror these power dynamics, drawing on narratives of gender complementarity.
It is within this communicative sphere that this study situated its analysis of
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s official IWD tribute tweets from 2023 to 2025.
The goal was to identify and critically examine the discursive strategies
deployed to construct gendered identities and power relations, while also
assessing how these constructions reproduce, challenge, or legitimise dominant
gender ideologies. The study addressed the underexplored mechanisms through
which political tributes ideologically sustain patriarchal dominance. Using van Dijk’s sociocognitive approach to
Critical Discourse Analysis, the study uncovers four recurring strategies:
symbolic elevation of women as foundational to national progress, paternalistic
framing of the administration as a benevolent guardian, utilitarian positioning
of gender equity as a development catalyst, and top-down inclusion rhetoric.
These discursive patterns reflect a model of “progressive conservatism” in
which modern gender themes coexist with enduring ideological expectations that
situate women within supportive and nation-building roles. The study concludes
that while the tributes expand symbolic recognition of women, they leave
underlying patriarchal power structures unchallenged.
Keywords: gender
ideology, political discourse, sociocognitive CDA, paternalism, progressive
conservatism, Nigeria, Tinubu
Introduction
International
Women’s Day (IWD), observed annually on March 8, serves as a global platform to
recognise women’s socioeconomic, cultural, and political achievements while
advocating for gender equality (United Nations, 2023). In Nigeria, a society
deeply entrenched in patriarchal traditions and systemic gender disparities,
IWD tributes from political leaders often mirror broader power dynamics and
ideological currents that shape public discourse on gender (Awofeso &
Odeyemi, 2014). Political rhetoric in such contexts frequently aligns with
cultural narratives of gender complementarity rather than equity, where praise
for women’s resilience and contributions obscures the structural barriers they
face (Omotola, 2010). President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s IWD messages, throughout
the first half of his tenure, consistently reiterate women’s “indispensable
contributions” and “strength” as nation-builders, situating them within a
narrative of collective progress under his Renewed Hope agenda. These tributes exemplify
how elite political discourse constructs gender identities to align with ruling
ideologies by prioritising symbolic affirmation over substantive reform.
Despite
ongoing national and global efforts towards gender parity, Nigerian women’s
political inclusion remains alarmingly low. Following the 2023 general
elections, women’s representation in the National Assembly declined to less
than 4 per cent, the lowest since 1999 (Inter-Parliamentary Union, 2024). While
political leaders’ IWD tributes ostensibly endorse women’s empowerment, they
often reproduce ideological inconsistencies by celebrating women’s domestic and
economic roles while sidelining demands for institutional reforms such as
increased political quotas or anti-discrimination legislation. President Bola
Ahmed Tinubu’s messages portray women as resilient drivers of progress, yet his
administration’s limited appointment of women to key ministerial positions—only
16.7 per cent as of 2024 — reveals a sharp disjunction between rhetoric and
practice (Premium Times, 2024). Such performative discourse risks reinforcing
power asymmetries where gender equality is tokenised rather than institutionalised.
The gap this study addresses, therefore, lies in the underexplored mechanisms
through which political tributes ideologically sustain patriarchal dominance.
This necessitates a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) of Tinubu’s IWD press
releases in the past three years to uncover the subtle power structures
embedded in his rhetoric and to promote more equitable political narratives.
This
study seeks to identify and critically examine the discursive strategies used by
Bola Ahmed Tinubu in his IWD tributes to construct gendered identities and
power relations. In doing so, it interrogates how these constructions
reproduce, challenge, or legitimise dominant ideological positions on gender
and leadership within Nigeria’s socio-political discourse. Together, these
objectives aim to expose how language functions as a conduit of power,
revealing the ideological undercurrents that shape political representations of
women in leadership in contemporary Nigeria. The study is justified by the need
to bridge the persistent gap between political rhetoric and gender equity in
Nigeria, where IWD has shifted from a radical feminist observance to a
stage-managed exercise in political image-making amid deepening inequalities
(Global Gender Gap Report, 2024). By focusing on Tinubu’s tributes spanning his
pre-presidential (2023) and presidential (2024–2025) periods, this analysis
fills a crucial gap in understanding how political elites deploy language to
legitimise authority while ostensibly promoting women’s causes (Wodak, 2015).
This
research contributes to scholarship by illuminating how gender ideologies are
embedded in African political tributes to sustain hegemonic power (van Dijk,
2015). It enriches Nigerian gender discourse studies by offering empirical
evidence on the rhetorical framing of women as “bedrock” figures in Tinubu’s
messages, exposing a paternalistic ideology that valorises women’s labour while
evading structural transformation. It also, theoretically, it extends the
applicability of van Dijk.s Sociocognitive
model to interrogate gender, power, and ideology in ceremonial political
communication. By using Tinubu’s tributes as a case study, this study fosters
interdisciplinary dialogue across linguistics, political science, and gender
studies.
Literature Review
The
concepts of gender, power and ideology are closely interwoven and are best
understood in relation to one another. Butler (1990) conceptualises gender as a
social construct encompassing roles, behaviours, identities and attributes that
societies assign to individuals based on perceived differences. This
construction is continually reinforced through relations of power. As Foucault
(1978) notes, power operates through institutions, norms and discourse to shape
and regulate individuals’ actions, resources and beliefs, which are the same
mechanisms that sustain gendered behaviour. Ideology underpins both gender and
power. Althusser (1971) describes it as a system of ideas, beliefs and values
that shapes individuals’ perceptions of reality. Ideology works to naturalise
the power relations embedded in gender, making social hierarchies appear
legitimate and unavoidable. In this sense, gender functions simultaneously as a
product of power and a vehicle through which dominant ideologies are
circulated.
Within
the Nigerian context, several empirical studies shed light on how gender, power
and ideology interact in public discourse. Ahmed (2024), through a critical
discourse analysis of selected Nigerian newspapers, demonstrates the
delegitimisation of gender equality across media discourses. Drawing on Wodak’s
discourse-historical approach, the study uncovers the ideological patterns and
hegemonic structures that sustain gender stereotypes, patriarchal norms and the
marginalisation of women’s voices in the media. This work highlights how media
institutions reproduce the ideological foundations that shape societal
perceptions of gender.
A
similar concern with media representation is evident in Ekeh’s (2018)
investigation of gender discrimination in Nigerian politics. Using sociological
and media communication theories, the study argues that the media reinforce
Nigeria’s entrenched patriarchal structures. Examining a data set drawn from Thisday and Vanguard newspapers over 28 days, the study concludes that media
framing significantly influences how the electorate perceives female political
candidates. The findings demonstrate the power of media discourse in shaping
the ideological environment within which gender relations are negotiated.
Beyond
media institutions, broader gender policy discourses have also been a major
focus of scholarly analysis. Okunade et
al. (2023) conducted a comprehensive review of literature on gender
policies and women’s empowerment in Nigeria. Their analysis identifies
persistent barriers to policy implementation, including income disparities and
the undervaluation of women’s contributions. They advocate for quantifiable
benchmarks for policy evaluation, dismantling of patriarchal structures and the
advancement of women through educational and economic empowerment. This study
reinforces the view that gender inequality is sustained by structural and
ideological constraints that require deliberate policy intervention.
Other
studies have examined how ideological constructions of gender operate within
specific discourse genres. Ofoegbu (2025) analysed gender-related news reports
in The Guardian and Vanguard from 2014 to 2016. Drawing on
Fairclough’s (1995) Critical Discourse Analysis and Halliday’s (2004) Systemic
Functional Linguistics, the study examines fourteen purposively selected
reports to reveal how linguistic choices construct women as equal participants
in public life while simultaneously prescribing normative motivations for their
political involvement. Material processes, relational processes and lexical
selections were key tools through which ideological meanings were projected.
In
the domain of popular culture, Nyamkoh and Ngwa (2021) investigated the
representation of spousal power relations in Nollywood movies. Their analysis
shows that gender representation in film is deeply ideological, often
reinforcing unequal power dynamics. Wealth is frequently framed as the primary
source of power, contributing to a pattern of representation that fuels the
pursuit of economic dominance as a pathway to authority. Similarly, Oamen
(2019) applied Kress and van Leeuwen’s social semiotic approach to political
cartoons in order to uncover how cartoonists strategically (mis)represent
Nigerian women. Analysing ten purposively selected cartoons, the study
demonstrates how semiotic resources are used to reproduce or contest unequal
gender relations. This work underscores the ideological potency of visual
discourse in shaping social attitudes toward women.
Taken
together, these studies reveal a consistent pattern in Nigerian public
discourse. While media outputs, policy texts, films and even political cartoons
may appear to celebrate or acknowledge women, they often reinforce entrenched
power asymmetries and patriarchal ideologies. This cumulative evidence
highlights the gap between rhetorical celebration and substantive gender
equity. It is within this discursive tension that the present study situates
its analysis of Tinubu’s IWD tributes, which, although outwardly laudatory, may
reproduce longstanding ideological constructions that shape gender relations in
Nigeria.
Theoretical
Framework
This study employs van Dijk’s Sociocognitive theory to analyse how
gender, power and ideology are constructed in Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s International
Women’s Day tributes. The theory explains discourse as a product of the
interaction between language use, social structures and mental representations.
Van Dijk believes that discourse is shaped by the mental models individuals and
groups use to interpret events, identities and power relations. These models
govern how political figures frame meaning, how audiences process such meaning
and how ideologies are reproduced or negotiated in public communication.
A key element of the theory is socially shared cognition, the collective
belief systems that sustain group identities. In Nigeria, shared cognitions
about gender remain strongly influenced by patriarchal norms. These shared
beliefs inform what political leaders highlight or background in public
statements. The theory therefore provides a structured means of identifying
whether Tinubu’s tributes reinforce, question or strategically adjust these
entrenched assumptions about women and their place in the nation. Van Dijk’s
distinction between event models and context models also supports the analysis.
Event models relate to how speakers mentally represent the subject matter, in
this case the value and social positioning of women. Context models concern how
speakers adapt discourse to situational expectations, institutional roles and
audience demands. These two levels of cognition help clarify the ideological
cues that emerge in specific parts of the tributes and link them to broader
objectives such as public legitimacy, governance priorities and political
positioning.
Van Dijk (2008) argues that Critical Discourse Studies requires close
attention to mental representations. Personal mental models, context models and
shared social cognition form the cognitive interface through which discourse
interacts with wider social structures. To illustrate this relationship, he
analyses a petition defending Microsoft during an antitrust case, showing how
lexical choices and rhetorical strategies construct an ideological contrast
between a moral free market and an overreaching state. Terms such as
persecution and rights position Microsoft as a victim and portray the
government as intrusive, relying on omissions and exaggerations to promote a
neoliberal ideology.
For van Dijk, social context is not a passive backdrop but is actively
constructed through context models that determine relevance, appropriateness
and interpretation. Coherence in discourse arises from these cognitive
structures rather than from textual features alone. At the societal level,
discourse is a form of social action that both reflects and reproduces
institutional arrangements, group relations and unequal power structures.
Critical Discourse Studies therefore investigates how local communicative
events contribute to broader ideological formations and systems of dominance.
The multidisciplinary orientation of this framework aligns with the present
study’s aim of uncovering how language in Tinubu’s International Women’s Day
tributes constructs gendered meanings and ideological positions within
Nigeria’s political landscape.
Methodology
This
study adopts a qualitative discourse analytic design, structured to generate a
contextually grounded interpretation of gender, power and ideology in President
Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s International Women’s Day tributes. The dataset comprises the
three International Women’s Day tributes issued by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu
between 2023 and 2025. The texts were selected because they represent the
president’s official stance on gender-related themes. They were sourced from
the president’s verified X account, @officalABAT. The three-year scope creates
a compact yet strategic corpus that enables a comparative reading of discursive
patterns over time under Tinubu’s administration.
The
analysis followed van Dijk’s sociocognitive
model, using its layered structure to interrogate discourse at three levels.
The first level involved examining the textual features of the tributes,
including lexical choices, thematic emphases, rhetorical strategies and
representational patterns. The second level explored the underlying mental
models that the discourse projects, with attention to how the tributes
construct event models of women’s societal roles and context models that
reflect the political positioning of the speaker, the expectations of the
audience and the ceremonial nature of International Women’s Day. The third
level connected these patterns to broader ideological structures, assessing how
the tributes reproduce, reinforce shared social cognitions about gender and
power in Nigeria.
Data Analysis
Each
of the texts is analysed as follows:
Text 1
‘Innovation
and Technology for Gender Equality’ is not only about how we must mainstream
our women into digital economy but more importantly about the broader issues of
gender equity, equality and the health developmental needs of women and girls
through our practices and policies.
Embracing
gender equity for us in Nigeria has progressed beyond technology adoption and
participation in innovation; to a deeper engagement about how we treat issues
of economic justice, social mobility and equitable (especially political)
representation of women.
Our
population demography and development indices indicate that we can only
progress if we harness the numerical value of the human resources, the nation
is blessed is blessed with. Specifically, our women play very important roles
in national life from the family units where they nurture our children who will
be next generation of leaders to the farmlands, markets and boardrooms where
they play their role as major economic actors.
As
we celebrate our women, I hold sacred my promise to provide the enabling
environment for these goals to become manifest and usher another dimension to
the strength of Nigeria – our women.
Doing
this will renew hope in Project Nigeria and energise the much needed citizen
engagement agenda of our administration.
I
wish all Nigerian women a happy celebration.
God
bless Nigeria, God bless the soul of the nation, our women.
Source: @officalABAT (tweeted
on March 8, 2023)
The
communication architecture of this text pivots on a classic positive
self-presentation strategy. The tweet was posted shortly after Tinubu won
Nigeria’s 2023 Presidential Election. In the text, Tinubu frames himself and
his in-coming administration taking off on May 29, 2023 as innovation-driven,
gender-responsive and future-focused. By foregrounding “innovation and
technology”, he embeds his message within a national transformation narrative
that resonates with Nigeria’s current development agenda. This situates him as
a leader aligned with global best practice and digital-economy aspirations,
which strengthens his authority. In cognitive terms, he primes the mental model
of a reformist administration committed to women’s empowerment.
A
second strategic layer is his repeated construction of women as essentialised
national assets. The text links women to roles such as nurturers of future
leaders, economic drivers in markets and farmlands, and contributors in
boardrooms. This hybrid positioning draws on familiar social schemas. On the
one hand, the rhetoric elevates women’s contribution, but on the other it
anchors them within conventional gender scripts that foreground care, domestic
labour and supportive civic roles. By doing this, the discourse generates
ideological coherence through familiarity. It embeds change within existing
cultural frames, which reduces resistance. However, this also limits how far
the narrative disrupts patriarchal mental models.
The
discourse deploys an inclusion-for-development logic, where women’s empowerment
is justified primarily by expected national returns. This is a growth-driven
rationalisation strategy that aligns gender equity with productivity, social
stability and economic optimisation. While this can legitimise gender-inclusive
policies in the public imagination, it also reinforces a utilitarian ideology
that values women instrumentally, rather than as equal citizens with autonomous
rights. The text thereby both challenges and reproduces dominant gender
ideologies. It challenges them by making gender equity a strategic imperative
rather than a charitable gesture. Yet it simultaneously reproduces them by
locating women’s value in national utility rather than intrinsic equality.
Tinubu’s
commitment statement functions as a performative pledge. By asserting that he
holds his promise “sacred”, he activates the trust schema associated with
credible leadership. Within van Dijk’s ideological square, this strengthens the
positive presentation of the self and the in-group (his administration) while
constructing a national collective role for women. The rhetoric generates the
sense that empowerment is possible only through benevolent leadership. This
reinforces hierarchical power relations where the state remains the gatekeeper
of women’s advancement. Gender equity becomes a deliverable, not a negotiated
right.
The
closing lines move into nation-binding discourse. References to “renewing
hope”, “Project Nigeria” and “citizen engagement” signal a strategic
integration of gender discourse into the broader political brand of his
administration. This places women as critical stakeholders in a national
transformation agenda, yet it also legitimises the administration’s ideological
stance by portraying its policies as inclusive and morally grounded. In
cognitive terms, it solidifies the ideological frame that progress, patriotism
and leadership legitimacy flow through state-mediated empowerment efforts.
Across
the text, Tinubu walks a tightrope between progressive rhetoric and
conservative social positioning. His language gestures towards innovation,
digital inclusion and structural transformation, yet it simultaneously embeds
women within familiar socio-cultural roles that maintain existing hierarchies.
The result is a discourse that pushes incremental change while keeping within
the bandwidth of widely shared mental models in Nigeria’s sociopolitical space.
The text shows that the discourse both reproduces and mildly challenges
Nigeria’s dominant gender ideology. It legitimises state-controlled empowerment
strategies, and also maintains the male political class as the architect of
progress and it subtly reinforces women’s identity as supportive contributors
rather than autonomous power-holders. Yet it also reframes gender equity as a
strategic national priority tied to economic growth, leadership continuity and
digital transformation. The duality is precisely where the ideological work
happens.
Text 2
On this year’s International Women’s Day, I celebrate all Nigerian
women. They are the pivot of our nation.
The indispensable role of women in building our dear Nation, Nigeria,
must always be emphasised because they have been elemental to our nation’s
development, growth, and greatness.
In every discipline and field of human endeavour, the standout
achievements of Nigerian women have become a testament to the resilience,
strength, courage, and ingenuity of women worldwide, as well as a mark of
exceptional quality as emissaries of hope and possibilities.
The theme of this year’s International Women’s Day, ‘Invest in Women:
Accelerate Progress’, aligns perfectly with my administration’s policy
initiatives on educating and empowering women, as can be seen from their
inclusion in governance in my administration – ensuring that they remain
relevant and unimpeachable voices in the development process across all sectors
of the economy.
My administration is also focused on investing in the education of the
girl-child and fostering inclusive programmes and initiatives that bolster
their active roles in areas such as knowledge, science, technology, research,
and innovation for the future.
Once again, I join Nigerian women in celebrating this auspicious
occasion, and I take this opportunity to assure them that my administration
will always prioritise their welfare, protect their rights, and advance their
causes.
Source:
@officialABAT (tweeted on March 8, 2024)
This second tribute operates as a strategic piece of political
communication put together to align gender discourse with state legitimacy. The
text shows how Tinubu’s rhetoric constructs gendered identities, reinforces
certain ideological defaults and positions his administration as a benevolent
custodian of women’s progress. He views women as “the pivot of our nation”. The
strategy is flattering yet functional. It reinforces a narrative that women’s
value is rooted in their supportive centrality, not in independent agency. The
mental model here is familiar to audiences: women as indispensable but
primarily in ways that complement male-led national leadership. This keeps the
discourse warm and inclusive while maintaining a hierarchical relational
structure.
There is also an overlayer of positive other-presentation, which mirrors
a leadership branding tactic. Tinubu foregrounds women’s resilience, strength
and “ingenuity” across disciplines. The language cultivates a sense of national
pride anchored on the excellence of women. In cognitive terms, the discourse
enhances the schema of the “model Nigerian woman” – talented, resilient,
inspirational. The strategy creates ideological cohesion through aspirational
imagery. Yet, the construction is still shaped within a representational frame
where women serve as symbols of national hope, not necessarily as political
power brokers.
A more subtle move appears when he claims that the year’s theme “aligns
perfectly” with his administration’s initiatives. This is a strategic
synchronisation technique. By tying international gender discourse to his own
governance agenda, he legitimises his policies while positioning himself within
a global progressive network. This is a persuasion move designed to manage the
mental models of the audience because it encourages citizens to perceive his
administration as forward-looking and gender-conscious. The synergy is
deliberate and is aimed at reinforcing political credibility.
His mention of “inclusion in governance” projects an image of
empowerment while retaining state-led control over the terms of that
empowerment. Women are framed as “voices” within governance, but the power to
include them remains with the administration. This reinforces a top-down
empowerment ideology. In sociocognitive terms, the discourse maintains a mental
model where women’s access to power is mediated by male leadership. The
ideological square is active here: the administration as magnanimous and progressive;
women as worthy beneficiaries; broader society as supportive; challenges
minimised through an optimistic narrative.
The section on investing in girl-child education and technology-heavy
futures is a forward-looking strategy. It aligns empowerment with Nigeria’s
development trajectory. This is a modernising discourse that paints gender
inclusion as a state-business priority. The logic is that empowering girls and
women will generate national returns in science, technology and innovation. It
subtly reproduces a utilitarian ideology where women are framed as strategic
assets. The rhetoric is progressive at face value, but it ultimately positions
empowerment within the logic of national productivity rather than rights-based
parity.
The closing assurance that his administration will “prioritise their
welfare, protect their rights, and advance their causes” reinforces
paternalistic leadership framing. It nurtures a mental model of government as
guardian. Women are portrayed as deserving of protection and support, which
reinscribes the dependency dynamic embedded within patriarchal sociopolitical
culture. This is not an explicit reproduction of inequality, but it stabilises
the familiar ideology of male-led political guardianship.
Text 3
On
this International Women’s Day, I celebrate the resilience, brilliance, and indispensable
contributions of Nigerian women. You are the bedrock of our nation, driving
progress from our homes to our farms, boardrooms, and communities. Yet, 30
years after Beijing Declaration, too many still face barriers that limit their
potential.
Our
administration is committed in our Renewed Hope pledge to dismantle obstacles,
expand access to finance, and ensure equitable opportunities in governance,
agriculture, and every sector.
To
our mothers, daughters, sisters – your strength fuels Nigeria’s future.
Together, we rise!
Source: @officialABAT (tweeted
on March 8, 2025)
This
third tribute operates with a tighter, more distilled persuasive architecture.
The discourse is meant to activate familiar mental models about women’s value,
amplify the administration’s reformist posture, and legitimise a political
ideology built on state-led empowerment. It feels more emotionally charged and
slogan-ready, but it still carries the same ideological backbone as the other
two statements.
The
message opens by placing women at the symbolic centre of national life. Calling
them “the bedrock of our nation” cues a long-standing cultural schema where
women are imagined as stabilisers, nurturers and moral anchors. This reinforces
a gendered identity tied to endurance and support. While the rhetoric uplifts,
it operates within the boundaries of traditional gender scripts. The cognitive
implication is that women’s significance is partly derived from their service
to the collective, not from autonomous political agency. He broadens this by
citing contributions “from our homes to our farms, boardrooms, and
communities”. This strategy blends conventional and modern roles, which allows
him to speak to multiple ideological constituencies at once. It acknowledges
women’s presence in formal economic spaces, but the inclusion of home and farm
underscores an older cultural model.
The
reference to the Beijing Declaration is a more explicit ideological signal. It
activates a global rights-based frame and anchors the message within
international gender commitments. In cognitive terms, this primes an awareness
of persistent structural inequality. However, the phrase “too many still face
barriers” frames inequality as a set of obstacles rather than as systemic power
relations. This softens the political edge. It gestures towards structural
critique but stops short of challenging patriarchal institutions directly. The
discourse remains safely within the realm of incremental reform rather than
transformative disruption.
The
pivot to “our administration is committed in our Renewed Hope pledge” is a
classic self-legitimisation strategy. By tying gender equality to the
administration’s flagship policy identity, Tinubu reinforces an ideological
link between national progress and his governance. It places the state as the
primary agent of empowerment, which centralises political authority and
reinforces a paternalistic leadership model. The cognitive framing here is one
of benevolent intervention: women’s empowerment is made possible through
government action rather than citizen mobilisation or structural power-sharing.
His focus on “access to finance” and “equitable opportunities in governance,
agriculture, and every sector” embeds a developmental logic. This aligns
women’s advancement with economic productivity and nation-building. While this
challenges narrow domestic-only gender identities, it still frames empowerment
as instrumental to national goals rather than a matter of justice and equality
for their own sake.
The
closing address to “our mothers, daughters, sisters” is emotionally resonant
but ideologically loaded. It activates familial schemas that reinforce
relational identities rather than political ones. The collective uplift
rhetoric “Together, we rise” works as a unifying device, but it also masks the
uneven power distribution that shapes gender relations. The discourse
constructs solidarity while keeping authority firmly with the state and,
implicitly, with male leadership.
Discussion of
Findings
Using
van Dijk’s sociocognitive model, this study examined President Bola Ahmed
Tinubu’s International Women’s Day (IWD) messages posted in 2023, 2024, and
2025 to ascertain his views on womenfolk in the first-half of his
administration. The analysis shows a clear ideological continuity across the
three years, reflecting a stable narrative about gender, leadership, and
national development. The study was carried out base on these three
objectives: i. identify and critically
examine the discursive strategies used in the analysed texts ii. construct
gendered identities and power relations, and also iii. find out how those
gender identity constructions reproduce, challenge, or legitimise dominant
ideologies on gender.
Regarding
the first objective, the tributes consistently deploy discursive strategies
that elevate women symbolically while maintaining familiar gender hierarchies.
Tinubu repeatedly constructs women as the “pivot,” “bedrock,” or “indispensable
contributors” to national life, invoking widely shared mental models that
position women as moral anchors and societal stabilisers. Although the texts
acknowledge women’s presence in modern sectors such as governance, technology,
and the digital economy, their roles are still framed through a progression
that begins with domestic and communal spaces. This layering subtly reinforces
traditional gender expectations even as it gestures towards contemporary
inclusivity.
These
constructions are closely tied to a pattern of benevolent paternalism. Tinubu describes
himself and his administration as the primary agents of women’s progress, using
assurances that his government will “prioritise,” “protect,” and “advance”
their welfare. Such framing casts empowerment as a state-controlled initiative
rather than a negotiation of power that includes women as co-authors of policy
or structural change. This is strengthened by a utilitarian logic in which
women’s empowerment is justified mainly through its contributions to economic
growth, digital transformation, and national development. Also, top-down
inclusion rhetoric reinforces this dynamic. Although the texts reference
“equitable opportunities” and “inclusion in governance,” agency remains with
the state, while women appear mainly as beneficiaries. Familial forms of
address, such as “our mothers, daughters, sisters,” further embed women’s
identities in relational terms, foregrounding emotional solidarity over
political agency.
The
second objective examined how these representations reproduce, challenge, or
legitimise dominant gender ideologies in Nigeria. The findings indicate that
the tributes largely reproduce existing patriarchal structures. Women’s value
is consistently linked to their service to family, community, and nation rather
than to autonomous political authority. Structural inequalities are
acknowledged only as “barriers” that can be removed administratively, avoiding
deeper interrogation of systemic power asymmetries. At the same time, the texts
introduce modest reformist elements, including references to the Beijing
Declaration, digital inclusion, and girl-child education. However, these
interventions remain firmly within a state-managed, incremental framework. They
signal modernity without destabilising the male-dominated political order.
Across
the three years, the core ideological logic remains unchanged, though stylistic
shifts occur. The 2023 message is policy-heavy because it was released prior to
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s inauguration. The 2024 text integrates the global
IWD theme to legitimise government agendas, and the 2025 message compresses the
same ideological content into a more concise, emotive format suited to social
media circulation. The shorter, slogan-like style of 2025 strengthens the
legitimising function by presenting continuity in a more accessible form.
Conclusion
Using
van Dijk’s sociocognitive model, the study shows that Tinubu’s 2023, 2024, and
2025 International Women’s Day messages maintain a stable ideological pattern
that symbolically elevates women while reinforcing familiar gender hierarchies.
The tributes consistently frame women as the moral and structural foundation of
the nation, drawing on widely shared mental models that present them as
stabilisers of family and community life. Even when acknowledging women’s
contributions to governance, technology, and the wider economy, the discourse
anchors these roles in traditional expectations. This symbolic celebration is
paired with benevolent paternalism. Empowerment is framed as a state-led gift
rather than a collaborative exercise of agency, and women are repeatedly
addressed through familial identities that soften the political edge of gender
discourse.
The
messages therefore reproduce prevailing patriarchal ideologies while
incorporating minimal reformist elements that gesture towards modernity without
challenging structural power arrangements. References to digital inclusion,
global commitments such as the Beijing Declaration, and girl-child education
introduce incremental change but remain embedded within a state-managed
narrative that prioritises national development over women’s autonomous
political agency. Stylistically, the messages shift from policy-centred in 2023
to theme-aligned in 2024 and more emotive and compressed in 2025, yet the
underlying ideological logic remains consistent across all three years,
reinforcing rather than transforming dominant gender norms in Nigerian
political discourse.
This
study, at the end, opens several productive pathways for further inquiry. One,
a comparative extension applying van Dijk’s sociocognitive framework to
statements by previous Nigerian presidents would help determine whether the
“progressive conservatism” identified in Tinubu’s tributes is
administration-specific or reflects a broader presidential tradition. Two, a
longitudinal analysis of Tinubu’s gender-related discourse across his full tenure
would also clarify whether the reproductive and legitimising patterns observed
remain stable, shift under political pressure, or align with global gender
norms. Three, cross-national comparison with presidential discourse from one or
two other African countries would help distinguish Nigeria-specific patriarchal
patterns from continental trends in “modernising paternalism.”
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