Banditry: Niger widows turn to cleaners, nannies

Some women whose husbands have been killed by bandits in Niger State are working as laundry cleaners and nannies to feed themselves and their children.

 One of the women, Hasiya Umar, told our correspondent that they no longer received relief support from donors, hence forcing many of them to find alternative means of surviving.

She said, “How we survive has not been easy, but we thank Allah for keeping us alive. Most of us now do menial jobs such as laundry cleaning, hair plaiting, babysitting, among others, and we are surviving.”

Another woman from Shiroro LGA, Saidu Salihu, told City & Crime that, “While some IDPs have lost their husbands to bandits’ attacks, some widows have remarried in the communities where the IDP camps are located and they’re engaged in menial jobs. They are being paid for the services they render and they are hardly exploited as far as I know. In fact, some IDPs receive food and clothes as gifts from their bosses.”

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Some women, however, told City & Crime that they would prefer going back to their communities to engage in more meaningful means of livelihood, especially farming, that had been their long time occupation.

 City & Crime gathered that also of concern to the IDPs is the school-age children that have been out of school for years and are now scavenging around in the towns where IDP camps are located.