Regardless of recent onslaughts recorded against the rights of Nigerian women, with the most painful example being the National Assembly’s rejection of bills that sought to grant special seats for women in the legislature and 35 percent party leadership during the voting on 68 amendments, recommended in the report recently submitted by the Special Ad Hoc Committees on the Review of the 1999 Constitution, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State has shown that there exists a ray of political and socio-economic hope for Nigerian women, particularly widows in Delta State.
Aside from that, Governor Okowa has in the past sustainably manifested leadership traits that describe him as people-focused. A recent telephone talk with Elder Isioma Okonta, the governor’s Senior Special Assistant on Social Investment Programme and Coordinator of the Delta State Widows Welfare Scheme, further demonstrates beyond reasonable doubt that Okowa is a believer, in the words of the late former Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN), Kofi Annan, that there is no tool for development more effective than empowerment of women and no other policy is as likely to raise economic productivity or to reduce infant and maternal mortality.
For a better understanding of the piece, a report recently defined a widow as a woman who has lost her husband by death and has not remarried. Widows, it added, are invisible in society. They are scattered across the globe, owing to their condition and the enormous challenges, reproach and shame the majority of them are undergoing. For widows to secure expectation by keeping their hopes alive by way of feeding, providing accommodation and qualitative education for their children, they must assume the position of their dead husband who happened to be the breadwinner.
Speaking on how the state government decided on a life changing scheme, widely known as ‘Widows Alert’ in 2018 to provide succour and wipe away their tears, remedy their despair and perplexity, as well as to assuage their hunger, Okonta explained that the initiative by the governor is taking care of the poor and vulnerable widows in Delta State and cuts across the 25 local government areas. The communities are touched by this programme, which is non-political and cuts across religious lines.
The programme provides monthly stipends to widows and there is a third scheme attached to it. The widows can benefit from free healthcare. The premium of this healthcare is borne by the governor by way of the Delta State contributory healthcare. So, even if the widows have to undergo surgical operations, it is free of charge. And we have 5,607 widows enrolled in this scheme.
On how the state tracks those that are real widows, Okonta said that the names of these widows before now were drawn from communities in Delta State. And the state makes sure the community leaders are involved to help ascertain the veracity of the widows. To those that are saying they are widows, indeed and to those that are saying they are poor and vulnerable widows, the community leaders are there to ascertain those points.
He stressed that the state does not draw up a list without making sure that community leaders check the facts. “Recently the governor brought in a consultant and instructed that they should conduct an integrated service. They were saddled with the responsibility of coming up with an electronic database of widows across Delta State. Today, they have rounded up their work and we have over 50,000 widows in the Delta State widow’s electronic database. So, we now have a compendium of widows that have been electronically generated. This database is used as veritable tools for government to make decision and plans concerning the widows,” he said.
On Governor Okowa’s style of supporting the project, Okonta captures it this way: “The Governor is the reason for the success of the programme. You know, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa is an astute chief executive and for every aspect of governance that is involved, there is a feedback mechanism that has been set up by him. Whenever there is a programme, the governor doesn’t just keep the programme; he pays attention to every detail.
“The structure we have today in the widow’s welfare scheme has been set up solely by Governor Okowa. Apart from me being the State Coordinator, there are three supervisors and each supervisor is in charge of each senatorial district in every local government. Two coordinators are saddled with the responsibility of taking care of the affairs of these widows and we have very little or no complaint coming from the widows. Dr Okowa is the reason why the programme is successful.”
In other states, you may see the governor taking care of widows only in seasonal periods, like Christmas and Easter or during electioneering periods. But Governor Ifeanyi Okowa has made sure that the issue of widows has been brought to the front burner.
There is so much violence out there, which was brought about by wrong parenting. When a family loses the father and breadwinner, leaving his wife to care for the children and the woman is not able to take care of them, what happens to the children? It is either their young daughters go into prostitution or their sons go into armed robbery.
When Okowa started taking care of widows, the narrative changed. The result is that widows in Delta State now have a new beginning and a brighter future.
The way Okowa structured this programme, anybody that takes over from him must keep the programme going. In his wisdom, the governor appointed a Commissioner for Humanitarian Services. Of course, widows’ welfare is part of humanitarian services. With the structures on ground, no doubt, the programme is sustainable.
*** Utomi Jerome-Mario is the Programme Coordinator (Media and Public Policy) of the Social And Economic Justice Advocacy (SEJA).
