By Josephine Agbonkhese

AS part of activities marking this year’s International Widows’ Day, no fewer than 600 widows are presently undergoing a four-week skills acquisition training at no cost, at the Women Development Centre in Lagos,  The training is being organised by the state Ministry for Women’s Affairs & Poverty alleviation, WAPA. Speaking at a symposium preceding the flag-off of the empowerment exercise,  Commissioner, WAPA, Hon.(Mrs) Lola Akande, identified widowhood as a catalyst to poverty, explaining that it is because of this notion that the state government thought it pertinent to initiate the on-going 4-week training; to ensure widows in the state became self-reliant.

Akande stressed that the World Widows Day 2016 served as avenue for discussion and called for effective actions on the plight of widows and their children across the world, who suffer exploitation, deprivation, persecution and exclusion as a result of the demise of their husbands. Describing this as a prevalent humanitarian crisis that had continued unabated for too long, she noted that widows were incessantly faced with  stigmatization, with relatives blaming them endlessly for their husbands’ demise.

In her remark, wife of the state governor, Mrs Bolanle Ambode, represented by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Arts & Culture, Hon. (Mrs) Adebimpe Akinsola, expressed great regret over the plight of widows in this part of the world. “There are too many hostile cultural practices against women here, and these practices are further made tougher for widows.

“I am pleased they are presently being trained by the state government because the greatest friend and consolation to a bereaved woman is economic empowerment in the form of a job or an acquired skill that can bring regular income and keep her busy so that she worries less,” she said. Others who spoke at the symposium were Mrs Yemi Osoba, Tinu Odegbemi and  Mrs Folasade Adesoye, Permanent Secretary, WAPA, who all lauded the state government’s support and investment in the lives of women and children in the state.