As Nigeria joins the world to mark the International Widows Day (IWD) tomorrow, ENE OSANG reports that Nigerian widows continue to lament their plight in the society, with little or no care from family, friends and most especially government.
The IWD observed June 23rd yearly is a United Nations (UN) ratified day of action to address the “poverty and injustice faced by millions of widows and their dependents in many countries.
Research has shown that the number of women turning into widows is increasing. This follows high male death rates as a result of insecurity caused by insurgency, communal clashes and agitations from different quarters.
Yet in other instances these women are accused falsely of killing their husbands and so suffer maltreatment from their in-laws, they are being made to mourn for long periods and in some cases their husbands properties is seized from them irrespective of how many children they have, making life unbearable for them.
This years celebration comes up tomorrow with the theme ‘’Never Alone’’.
Nigerian widows therefore demanded that society especially the government key into this and put smiles on their faces, even as they appealed not to be described as beggers, saying they work hard to cater to their children needs alone.
President of the Rock of Ages Widows Empowerment Foundation Nkeiruka Ude, a mother of three children and widow of over 18years called on the Federal Government (FG) to prioritize the care for widows in the country.
Ude who noted the efforts of the Ministry of Women and Affairs and Social Development in caring for women, girls and People With Disabilities (PWD’s) expressed worry over neglect of widows.
‘’Government should make care for widows their priority. Though the women affairs ministry takes care of women and girls but they should try to include the widows even if it is to train them on vocational skills,’’ she said.
‘’We also need jobs because we are not illiterates, government need to accommodate us irrespective of tribe, age or religion. Those who can work should be engaged because when you have work to do you won’t worry much.
‘’It hurts my heart when people say widows are beggers because we are not. We have self esteem and dignity too and if we are gainfully employed it will do a long way in reducing our plight, because aside our biological children we have other dependents too,’’ she added.
Narrating how she has faired over the years without her husband she describes widowhood as a ‘’tough period’’.
‘’I didn’t know I could cope because I was very young when I lost my husband and it was a very heavy burden on me until eight years ago when I joined the Rock of Ages Foundation; an organisation set up by Evangelist I.G Newman which caters for widows and since then my life has never being the same.
‘’I was a school certificate holder when I lost my husband but today I have a degree in education and counselling because the organisation gave me hope by standing by me and other widows all these years. I encourage other widows to join this organisation because we learn alot from each other.’’
She explained that this year’s celebration is unique because the organisation keyed into the FG initiative of agric for life, adding that going into agriculture is rewarding for the widows.
‘’We planted different crops which we have been harvesting and since widows day is coming up we decided to showcase our produce at the agric fair the Foundation help us organise to create awareness on our products and our capabilities,’’ she said.
‘’Though no much sales yet because this is our first exhibition but we are hopeful for patronage. When you empower a woman you empower a nation, we don’t want fish, rather we want to do the fishing ourselves,’’ she said.
Another widow of seven years from Cross River state and mother of one, Florence Edet, described the condition of widows as ‘’not too good’’ adding that widows are often neglected at the period they need assistance the most.
She expressed disappointed that government has no plans for widows, saying if government can assist with soft loans their lives would be better.
‘’God has been my pillar of support and whatever I want to achieve I put my mind on it and trust in God for success because family is just by the corner and government is not doing anything for us apart from NGO’s who try for us but some NGO’s are not sincere.
‘’Government should support us with soft loans so that those of us alive can atleast push farward. Only a few genuine Non Governmental Organisations (NGO’s) like the Rock of Ages Foundation caters to widows needs. We have children and some of us are too young but support from government can protect us from being vulnerable to the society,’’ she said.
Meanwhile, the Programmes Manager of the Foundation Mr. Eze Hyginus Eze, said this 2017 makes it the 7th year the foundation would be organising programmes for the IWD celebration.
According to him, this celebration is taking a new dimension with the agric produce exhibition being organised for the first time.
‘’Last year our CEO Evangelist Newman brought an agric expert to train the widows on agriculture and afterwards bought lands at different locations here in Abuja for them to farm.
‘’They have cultivated and harvested crops, and the result is the agric exhibition here at the old parade ground in Abuja and we appeal to Abuja residents to patronize them. We started the exhibition since on the 19th and it will end on the 22nd,’’ he noted.
‘’We train the widows on other vocation like soap making, hair dressers, entrepreneurship, tailoring and others but those who have interest in agriculture we decided to train as well and we are calling on residents to patronize them because most of the products are perishable goods,’’ he said.
On the theme of this years’ IWD he said it was timely, adding that the Foundation’s CEO Evangelist I.G Newman has always cared for the widows and also always reminds them that they are never alone.
It would be recalled that yearly, the Founder and CEO of the Rock of Ages Widows Empowerment Foundation has consistently hosted over 500 widows under its care who are residing in Abuja on the IWD.
Worldwide, there are over 245 million widows and a significant number of them are Nigeria women.
These Widows are the most vulnerable of all women yet societies often neglect them which makes them suffer in silence. Most of them are in their prime of life, young women left as sole caters for their children needs including food, shelter, clothing, school and general wellbeing.
