Widows rights take centre stage at ‘Widows Rejoice Mission’ programme

Ifeanyi Eduzor

The issue of maltreatment of widows, denials of their rights and inheritance, and other harmful traditional practices meted out to them took the center stage when a Non Governmental Organisation, ‘Widows Rejoice Mission’ rolled out the drums for it’s annual celebration of widows aimed at highlighting their plights in the society.
Held Sunday, 13, August at the organisation’s office located opposite 2nd Gate, Isheri Oshun G.R.A off Channels Television, Road OPIC Estate, Lagos State with more than 200 widows in attendance, the event did not only highlight the plight of women who have lost their spouses but resource persons took their time to offer them useful advise on what to do when faced with such ugly situations as well as the need for them to be financially independent.
Speaking at the event, a financial expert/ adviser, David Adelana explained that there are more than 250 million widows globally who could be grouped into young widows, middle age widows and old age widows.
Taking his text from Genesis 2: 18 which says that God after creating a man declared that man shall not be alone; I will make a helper for him which led to his creating a woman and as such a woman should not be made to undergo unecessary hardship because of the death of her husband due to no fault of hers but should be allowed to inherit her husband’s property because they’re one body.
He also faulted the believe in some quarters that widows are expected to be poor noting that there has been instances of widows who are poor but later became rich.
Adelana gave example with 11Kings Chapter 4 where Elisha blessed a widow and she became rich to pay off her late husband’s debt which changed the woman’s situation from poverty to richness.
According to him, a lot of widows have assets in their hands but they don’t know how to manage it, positing that the knowledge and experience one has is enough to generate income even as he stated that a lot of people keep their experience with them without sharing it with others.
On financial sustainability for widows, he explained that the source of income we have, how we generate it and how we spend it matters a lot saying; that with little resources, a widow can become self reliant.
He also cautioned widows on where they save their little resources because some of them goes with a lot of risks just as he warned them to be weary of many online savings and money platforms now existing in the country.
The financial adviser appealed to widows to only patronize financial institutions licensed by the Central Bank and National Deposit Insurance Corporation ( NDIC) and avoid being deceived with financial institutions offering mouth watering interests which he said have caused untold hardship to people.
He further admonished them that apart from investing in their children, they should also invest in assets and embrace micro pensions so that they can have something to fall back to at old age. According to him, in doing this, they’ve to consult experts who can help them through the investment processes; reminding them that not only people who work in government or public corporations can invest in micro pensions.
Adelana further admonished the widows to embrace skill acquisition programmes and to look beyond their individual selfs but set up a registered business entity which will enable them have access to loans from financial institutions and international non governmental organizations as no organisation will offer meaningful financial assistance to an individual business.
The guest speaker, Mrs. Nsini Udonta, Programme Officer of Project Alert, an organization at the fore front on the fight against violence on children, protecting the right of women and girls; protecting them against violence and physical attack, rape, widows rights, harmful traditional practices, gender based violence and genital mutilation amongst others took time to educate the widows on their rights and title to inheritance of their husbands property.
According to her, the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria made it clear that nobody has the right to maltreat widows or subject them to harmful traditional practices such as forcing them to shave their heads, locking them up in a room with the corpse of their husband, to drink the water which was used to birth the corpse just to prove their innocence or prevent them from inheriting their late spouse property even as she told them that they have the right to report their husband’s family to the Police when faced with such ugly and inhuman treatment.
Udonta also spoke about the need for women to advise their husbands on benefits of preparing a will and if possible prepare it with their first names and that of their wives so as to prevent any of the husband’s family members from having claims to his property when he’s no longer alive.
She later provided them with telephone numbers of relevant agencies to contact whenever they’re faced with such problems.
Speaking at the well attended event, founder of Widows Rejoice Mission,
Mrs. Zipporah Omowumi Adenike Oladejo expressed happiness at the large turn out of widows; saying that it’s a thing of joy that a project which she started five years ago has given hope and succor to widows and most vulnerable members of our society.
The woman of God advised the widows not to lose hope but to make use of what they’re taught in the programme which she believes will be of immense help to them.
” I’m really excited with the successful hosting of this year’s event. As you can see, we have people coming all the way from Ijegun, Ikotun, Mowe, Apapa, Mike 2 and even first comers from Ikorodu and Makoko which shows that we’re really impacting positively on the widows and we’ll sustain it.
The founder who also used the event to celebrate her birthday noted that they’re looking forward to collaborating with the Lagos State Ministry of Women Affairs and international non governmental organizations to make the programme bigger.
Also speaking, her husband who also doubles as the presiding Pastor of The Lord’s Portion Restorers Church, Mobolaji Adeniyi Christopher Oladejo popularly known as Oladejo MAC advised the widows to believe in the Lord as he’s the only one that can carry and bear their burden reminding them that Jesus said that his own burden is light and his loads are easy positing that if they can stick to Jesus Christ, they’ll get help from places they least expected.
“It’s a thing of joy that this project is growing greater every year and I want to assure you that the mission will last as far as we’re alive. It will grow from glory to glory because the Bible made us to understand that any vision that is born of God, overcomes the World. The mission will not stop because the passion to help people is not limited to the widows alone, it’s just an aspect of the Ministry.
” Two years ago during this programme, as we’re closing the programme, the Lord laid it into my heart that I should call for widows that are struggling to pay their children school fees and we’ve been paying their school fees since that time and so as long as we live, the mission will continue”, he assured.
On how they’ve been sustaining the programme for the past five years considering that the project is capital intensive, he explained that God has been using some public spirited individuals to offer financial help just as he stated that they’re trusting God for help to come from government and some international non governmental organizations.
Two widows who spoke to our correspondent after the programme, Mrs. Victoria Olatero from Mike 2 and Mrs. Glory Joseph from Ikorodu were full of appreciation to the organisers saying that what they learnt will be of immense help to them.
The occasion was spiced up with prayer sessions,gospel music, musical performances, preaching of the gospel, testimonies, display of some products produced by some of the widows that participated in the organisation’s skill acquisition programme and distribution of food items to the participants amongst others.