Jayne Uche-Ukonne
14 November 2009
Aba — Wife of the Nigerian president, Mrs. Turai Musa Yar'Adua, has pledged her commitment to assist widows in the country get reintegrated into the society.
Mrs. Yar'Adua, who stated this in Aba, Abia State, during the opening ceremony of the third International Conference and Seminar for Widows, with the theme "The Time Is Now", organized by Widows Organization International (WOI), said this is necessary because widows must be given the opportunity to contribute their quota to the development of the country.
She also advised the young ones among them to try to remarry, but to make sure they study the men they would want to get into the second marriage with very well before going into it.
The first lady who was represented by Hajiya Ramatu Bola Usman, noted that all her projects have been to empower women, especially the widows to be in position to take care of themselves and develop their children.
She added that she set up the cancer centre in Abuja to reduce the pains women with cancer go through. She also sent 20 envelopes containing N20, 000.00 each that were given out to the 20 widows present at the conference.
In her goodwill message, Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Mrs. Salamatu Hussaini Suleiman, had lamented that inhuman traditional practices and greed by members of the extended family disinherit the widows and turn their children into beggars and vagabonds, armed robbers and social pregnancies.
She also said widowhood practices in most societies in Nigeria constitute acts of violence as well as violation of the rights of the widows and their children, which make the widows to become vulnerable. Some in an attempt to make ends meet contact HIV/AIDS and eventually end in miserable deaths, she noted.
She commended organizers of the conference for putting the programme together with the ultimate aim of seeking abrogation of inhuman traditional practices and the dehumanizing treatment widows are exposed to.
According to her, "All human rights are universal, indivisible, interdependent and inter-related. Their full and equal enjoyment by women and girls is a priority for governments and the United Nations and is essential for the advancement of women.
"Governments must therefore uphold the rights of all women and actively promote and protect these rights. Recognition of the importance of women's rights is reflected in the fact that three quarters of UN member states have become parties to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women."
National president of WOI, Mrs. Hajaratu Zegi, said the organization was founded to fight discrimination against widows, especially in matters of inheritance; to seek the eradication of all obnoxious practices relating to widowhood and to inculcate the sense of responsibility and self reliance into widows.
She pointed out that every woman is a potential widow as death of a husband can come at any time, but added that a man's exit should not rubbish all he laboured for, especially his wife and children.
Chairman of the occasion, Prince Tony Momoh, said, "For ages, we kept quiet, been silent and silenced about what was being done to our fellow human beings in the name of custom and tradition. We must now speak out because the time is over ripe.
"In the past, we have hated. But we have approached this issue of discrimination from the standpoint of peace. The time is ripe to wage war on man's inhumanity to woman. The time is ripe when we should not just have laws in the books but must have them enforced."
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