The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), through the FCT Women Affairs Secretariat, has distributed palliative ranging from food items, detergents and clothes to 400 widows across the territory.
The Mandate Secretary of the Secretariat, Dr Adedayo Benjamins-Laniyi, who distributed the items to commemorate the 2024 International Widows’ Day, reaffirmed the commitment of the administration to alleviating the suffering of widows in Abuja.
She said the administration believes that empowering widows to support themselves and their families also means addressing social stigmas that create exclusion, discrimination or harmful practices.
“The FCT Administration under the watch of Barr. Nyesom Wike is poised to identify with people in the vulnerable space of our society, to alleviate their suffering.
“We therefore gather here to identify with widows in the FCT, in line with the Renewed Hope Initiative of the First Lady of Nigeria, Distinguished Senator Oluremi Tinubu, whose official trajectory is bent on giving hope to the hopeless, and putting smiles on the faces of the vulnerable.
“Losing a dear husband is a traumatic experience that no sane woman would want to have. Widowhood is caused by so many factors including disease, poverty, war, accident, negligence and sometimes hatred, which always culminates in the death of a dear husband.
“For many women around the world, the devastating loss of a husband is always characterised by negligence and a long-term fight for their basic rights and dignity. Although there are more than 258 million widows around the world, widows have historically been left unsupported in the various spectrums of our society,” she said.
Benjamins-Laniyi said that experience from their different cultural backgrounds shows that widows are often denied inheritance rights, have their property grabbed after the death of a husband, and usually face extreme stigma and discrimination.
“Today, we rise with one voice to say ‘No’ to negligence, torture and stigmatisation of widows in the FCT and Nigeria at large, and we assure that the current administration is committed to ending violence against widows and their children, and promoting poverty alleviation, education and other support to widows.
“The Women Affairs Secretariat is a deliberate and strategic hub to take care of all vulnerable people including the widows, and that is the singular reason why we are here,” she said.
The permanent secretary of the Secretariat, Kolawole Rabiu, in his welcome remarks, said one of the main reasons the secretariat was created was to alleviate the plights of widows and vulnerable in FCT.
The 2024 International Widows’ Day has as its theme, ‘Accelerating the Achievement of Gender Equality.’