Nosa Alekhuogie
The Executive Director of Hands of God Widows Support Initiative (HOGWIN), Phranklin Audu has called on well-meaning Nigerians to support the government as it plans to conduct the 2023 National Population Census.
In a statement, Audu noted that the census would also help to achieve better planning and recognition of the underserved and underrepresented in the society. He further stated that the 2023 National Population Census would give Nigeria the opportunity to shape the path for economic planning and cater appropriately for widows who are vital members of the national population.
A National Population Census, he said, would offer the opportunity for governments at national and sub-national levels to focus on the vulnerable demography while planning adequately for their well-being, and social and economic reintegration into society.
“It is important that national action plans include actions to count, map, and profile widows so that their needs are addressed, and they have access to restorative justice, support, pensions, and resettlement. One wonders how there can ever be meaningful development, reconciliation, justice, an end to violence against women, and sustainable peace without the inclusion of widows,” Audu said.
According to him, despite the passing of the law on Violence Against Prohibition of Persons (VAPP) recently, not too many states have done much to domesticate the law, particularly where it affects the protection of widows in local communities.
“In some cultures, widows are required to spend days in isolation, drink the bath water of their dead husbands, and undergo certain inhuman conditions to prove their innocence upon the demise of their husbands. Many cultures confer culpability on the widow and therefore subject them to harsh trials during the period of mourning. In many African cultures, a widow has no right to inheritance. Widows are fact considered an asset to be inherited by their late husband’s family and are therefore stripped of their human dignity and all economic means,” Audu added.
He advised that Nigeria must carry widows along in all economic plans in order to achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
