As part of activities to mark this year’s International Widows Day, an Abuja based Non Governmental Organisation (NGO), Helpline Foundation for the Needy, has trained over 400 widows drawn from the six Area Councils in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and neighbouring states of Nasarawa and Niger.
The group, which identified skill acquisition and financial empowerment as key in tackling the invisibility of widows in the country, also frowned at non focused policies of government at all levels to address the multifaceted problems facing widows.
Speaking during the International Widow’s Day organised by the Foundation, in collaboration with Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ) and Make A Difference for the Needy Foundation, Wednesday in Abuja, the President and Founder of Helpline Foundation for the Needy, Dr. Jumai Ahmadu, assured that the Foundation was committed to making widows in the nation’s capital more productive and contribute to the society.
While commenting on this year’s theme: “Invisible Women, Invisible Problems”, Ahmadu noted that the theme was a call on every member of the society to identify with widows and make their problems visible to society.
“Among various ethnic groups, the widows are even deprived of their privileges. The theme of the International Widows Day 2021 urges us to identify those women and make their problems visible to society.
“Specifically, we are here today in ensuring that widows are not only empowered, but are made visible to policy makers. Helpline Foundation and other critical stakeholders have come to the sudden realisation that government policies focus on common citizens including labourers, jobless youth, and other suffering segments of the society but nothing is specifically discussed about widows in policy-making meetings.
“Therefore, we will continue to highlight the issues of this ignored group to make our society more sustainable,” the Foundation’s president assured.
Also speaking, the Chairperson, NAWOJ FCT, Comrade Annah Daniel, said:”The Day is a reminder to all of us that we have a responsibility towards widows, especially in our immediate communities.
“We have to do more, that is for those who are already engaging their group while others need to join. There is no community that doesn’t have widows and most cases these widows are goimg through untold hardship, especially in instances where their spouses died suddenly.”
The International Widows’ Day was set aside by the United Nation to highlight the problems widows face and encourage people to help widows in their struggles against these challenges of life.
