A business development consulting firm, Management Solution for Africa (MS4A), in collaboration with an NGO, Widows and Orphans Empowerment Organisation (WEWE), has advocated for better welfare for widows and orphans.
The two groups recently launched “The Voice of Widows and Orphans” in commemoration of the World AIDS Day as part of advocacy to increase allocated resources from public and the private sector and civil society to the cause of widows and orphans in the country.
In a statement signed by WEWE’s Communication Officer, Sylvia Agamah-Ochidi, WEWE said, “This reality phone-in advocacy and empowerment radio programme is targeted at bringing the issues of widows and orphans to the table of decision makers in politics, the economy, as well as public, and the private sectors in Nigeria and Africa by 2024.
“The advocacy is also meant to give widows and orphans a say on issues that concern them by 2024 and mobilise funds and resources to support their programmes.”
It added that the programme, which featured on Armed Forces Radio 107.7 FM, Abuja, threw more light on the need for widows, orphans and vulnerable children to know their HIV status.
“Mrs. Tessie Philips-Ononye, Programme Manager on OVC and the Gender Point of Contact for the HIV/AIDS and TB for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and Dr. Yinka Falola-Anoemuah, Head of Gender, Human Rights and Care Support Services at the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), spoke on how well Widows and Orphans are targeted under their agencies’ programmes,” WEWE said.
The National Secretary of the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), Nigerian chapter, Ms. Rhoda Prevail Tyoden, and Ese Bolokor Esq, Assistant Chief Legal Officer of the Legal Aid Council of Nigeria, were quoted as condemning gender-based violence such as widows drinking the bath water of their husbands’ corpses and the confiscation of property by their husbands’ relatives, saying such were criminal acts punishable by law.
WEWE further explained that a call centre for free legal intervention was being created for oppressed widows in Nigeria.
The Faculty Director and Lead Facilitator of MS4A, Dr. Josephine Ogazi, promised to register over one million widows and over 1,000 local and international NGOs as partners.
