Mrs Cecilia Dada, Commissioner, Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Lagos State, has restated government’s commitment to empower widows to be financially independent.
Dada, represented by a Director in the ministry, Mrs Fummi Raji, made this known at a seminar organised by the Healing Heart Foundation, an NGO, to mark the 2022 International Widows Day (IWD) in Lagos.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the theme for the 2022 IWD is: “Sustainable Solutions to Widows Financial Independent”.
She decried the challenges faced by some widows after the demise of their husbands, which often resulted in their forfeiting their property to the husbands’ relatives.
She said that lack of financial capacity to cater for the household, train the children and move on with their lives were usually a big challenge to most widows.
According to her, the ministry has carried out some empowerment programmes in the past, which have impacted positively in the lives of some women and indigents in the state.
“We have empowered thousands of indigents with equipment like pepper grinder, sewing machines, hair dryers, barbing set with generator, pop-corn makers, barbeque makers and Android phones.
“These were made in order to enhance digital marketing of their products and services for easy access to their prospect clients.
“So, we look forward to collaborating with the NGO on more empowerment programmes in the future,” Dada said.
The President of the NGO, Mrs Sophy Mbanisi, urged the widows to have a change of mindset and be determined in their endeavours in order to become financially independent.
According to Mbanisi, change of mindset is the first step for the widows be financially stable, as many of them believe that they can easily resort to begging and receiving from others.
She said that widows could be gainfully engaged in businesses to earn some income, but they lacked the courage and determination to stand on their own.
“This is why many widows have resorted to begging and seeking for where to receive, instead of being gainfully engaged to fend for themselves.
“That your husband is dead does not mean the end of life for you; you can inspire, work hard and be great in life, earning good money.
“Erase the mentality that you can easily beg and be receiving from others. It hurts me when I see widows idle and seeking for where things are being shared,” she said.
Mbanisi thanked the ministry for its efforts in support the indigents in the society, saying that some widows actually needed empowerment.
According to her, the NGO has also empowered most of the widows with cash and skills acquisitions like soap making, baking, netting among others in the past, unfortunately, most of them failed to run with it.
A retired civil servant, Mrs Chinwe Ojukwu, also advised the widows to always take the trainings and skill acquisitions serious and be determined to cue into any one of their choice.
Ojukwu said the trainings were good opportunities the widows could leverage on to earn income on a daily basis.
The event featured a presentation by the XtraLarge Farms company on how to have different streams of income and equally have access to healthy foods through petty investment in agricultural products as well as health talks. (NAN)
