January 17, (THEWILL) – The founder of Jedidiah Divine Home of Love (JEDLOF), a non-governmental organisation, Dr (Mrs) Ebele Okoye, has stressed the need for the government, organisations and well-meaning individuals, to rise to the challenge of widows in the society.
Speaking to journalists after distributing various items including food stuffs, to over 150 widows in Enugu state, Dr Okoye called for the involvement of all levels of government to design programmes for widows, by setting aside a grant that will enable them establish themselves.
According to her, government at all levels should be able to employ graduate widows to enable them feed and train their families.
She also called for the setting up of small scale businesses for the non-educated widows, where they could learn handworks. “If they do that, you will see that many of them will not be as bad as they are by sitting and waiting for where the next meal will come from or their children looking for how to go to school without school fees.
“Government should take care of their kids by establishing a kind of funds that will be for the caring of these children from primary to secondary schools.
“A serious government all over the world provides serious things that they do for widows, but in Nigeria, the government should take it as a responsibility.”
Dr Okoye explained that both widows and their children are agonising and in pains as a result of poverty associated with them.
On activities of JEDLOF, Dr Okoye explained that over 150 widows were hosted in Enugu state as part of activities to mark the end of the 2023 programme.
She revealed that lot of activities have been lined up for 2024, describing it as massive, but will depend on the availability of funds, adding that JEDLOF planned the constitution of boreholes for communities, train brilliant of widows children in schools, identifying young widows with a view to empowering them business-wise.
Anthony Awunor, is a business correspondent who holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Linguistics (UNILAG). He is also an alumnus of the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Zaria Kaduna State. He lives in Lagos.
