Why Govt Needs To Do More For Widows, By Ayodele

THE President of INRI Widows Foundation, an organisation dedicated to the plight of widows in Nigeria, Primate Elijah Ayodele, has called on the federal government to put in place a Ministry of Widows Affair.According to him, there is so much poverty in the country and many widows are suffering. Ayodele who is also the head of INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church said, organisations such as the INRI Widows Foundation are working hard to help widows, amid challenges.He said: We are doing everything in our power to help but the work is more than the resources. The government should set up a Ministry of Widows Affairs because the Ministry of Women Affairs cannot handle the size of the problems on ground. The federal, state and local governments must be involved because poverty is deep particularly on our widows.Ayodele, who lamented: Those who are in need include HIV Positive widows who have children to educate, called on government and corporate agencies to rise up to the challenge and alleviate the sufferings of widows and widowers.He disclosed that his foundation started work on reducing hardship faced by widows since 2004 and has enjoyed support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Hope Worldwide, Olive Leaf Foundation, the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and other international agencies and individuals.Our foundation has about 180 widows in its care at the moment and we are still admitting more. We give them foodstuffs and take care of their medical needs. Many of them have various health problems such as high blood pressure, hypertension, and arthritis. We offer them free medical services. We have a legal department that attends to the problems of property inheritance and persecution upon the husbands death. This is one of the problems many widows face.The Lagos state government through its judiciary arm is supporting us with free legal services. The women also enjoy counseling services and feeding and we give antiretroviral drugs to the HIV Positive widows.Although we have enjoyed support from prominent individuals and organisations, more can still be done in the area of alleviating the sufferings of Nigerian widows.
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