Women

Widows Day: Mrs Wike, Others Admonish Rivers Widows

Published

8 years ago

July 8, 2016

It was indeed a con
vergence of widows from the 23 local government areas of Rivers State at the Ministry of Justice Auditorium, Port Harcourt recently to celebrate this year’s International Widows Day.
International Widows Day was established by the Loomba Foundation, India, to raise awareness on the issues of widowhood. It assumed an international status with the United Nations ratifying it as a day of action to address poverty and injustice faced by millions of widows and their dependants. Subsequently, in 2010, it was officially recognised by the United Nations and observed on June 23, every year.
In line with the theme of this year’s celebration, “Invisible Women, Invisible Problems”, speakers were drawn from various fields to educate the widows on how to address their plights by making themselves very visible and their plights well known. Topics like Legal Rights of Widows, Invisible Health Challenges As It Relates To Widows”, were handled by renowned persons in different fields, with a call for the widows not to see themselves as being disadvantaged but to strive and use their status to serve God and humanity. This they said can only be possible when the widows improve themselves both financially, educationally and otherwise.
The Chairman of the occasion, Prof Rosaline Konya, admonished the widows to be prayerful, hardworking and resilient. “You need to know that God is your husbands, if you depend on man, man will fail you but God will never fail you”, she said.
Konya who is also a widow and the State Commissioner for Environment, noted that most harmful widowhood practices were being perpetrated by women and called on the women and the entire society to desist from such “barbaric, un-christian acts”.
Earlier in her welcome address, the State Commissioner for Women Affairs, Barr (Mrs) Ukel Oyaghiri, observed that in Nigeria, particularly in Rivers State, widows are often confronted with lives of denial of inheritance and land rights degrading and life-threatening mourning and burial rites and obnoxious harmful widowhood practices. She said, widows across the world are faced with several challenges like poverty, violence, segregation, harmful traditional practices and many more.
Barrister Oyaghiri noted that when a woman dies, the bereaved husband is encouraged to cope with the situation while the reverse is the case when a man dies, stressing that our culture should embrace the Sustainable Development Goals number five, which talks about gender equality, and gives the widow equal treatment as the widower.
The highly elated commissioner called for the empowerment of widows and the support of all and sundry so that widowhood will cease to be a problem in the state. She also asked for the enforcement of “Dehumanising and Harmful Traditional Practices Law No 2 of 2003 which abolishes the dehumanising and harmful traditional practices in Rivers State, adding that any offenders or perpetrators of these inhuman acts should be brought to justice.
In her commemorative message, wife of the state Governor, Justice Suzzette Nyesom Wike, identified with the plights of the widows and urged them to always speak up so that their problems would be noticed and resolved.
She said though the Dehumanising and Harmful Traditional Practcies Law exists, there is yet to be any case recorded in the law court, premised on that law. She therefore, asked for the effort of all in the state to educate, enlighten, popularize and enforce the law across the nooks and crannies of the state, so that widows can have peace and tranquility.
Justice Wike appealed to traditional rulers, religious leaders, NGOs, companies and all well meaning people in the state to join in the advocacy for the eradication of obnoxious and harmful widowhood practices in the state, adding that various stakeholders and companies should develop programmes aimed at empowerment and sustainability of widows and their children within their host communities.
The first lady also advised women, particularly the young ones to equip themselves in every possible manner like going to school, learning a trade or business or engaging in any economic activity to boost themselves.
In his special message, the State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, assured the continuous support of his government to the widows.
The Governor who was represented by Secretary to the State Government, Chief Kenneth Kobani, disclosed that to reduce the impact of the problems of widows on the entire household, government will set up a widows’ economic empowerment scheme.
He charged the widows not to bury their talents but make good use of them to better themselves and their families .
The Governor further enjoined them to expose and report any person or group of persons breaking the state’s law on elimination of harmful traditional practices, assuring that appropriate actions will be taken against such person(s). He emphasized his administration’s policy of touching all segments of the society.
Expectedly, the widows were thrilled with the Governor’s promises and plans. The President, Widows Association, Rivers State, Mrs Patricia Weli, who spoke on behalf of the widows, thanked the Governor for the kind gesture. She equally appreciated Justice Wike, the Women Affair Commissioner and all those who made this year’s celebration a memorable one.
Similarly, one of the widows, Mrs Paulina Hillary, thanked the state government for identifying with the widows and pledged her support for the Wike’s administration and promised to use the knowledge acquired at the event to better her life. A parting gift of wrappers and cash were presented to all the widows.

Calista Ezeaku

Women

The Wise Woman

Published

1 day ago

April 26, 2024

The Tide

The wise woman builds her home. Mothers are supposed to live exemplary lives. The roles of mothers in the building of the modern Christian home cannot be overemphasized.
The function of the mother is to help the man build the home. She is a helper. A helper to the husband when the man is not doing well. It is important for the wise woman to assist when the man is not able to meet up with the items needed in the home.
A wise woman needs to reference God first and then the husband. Also the wise woman should respect her husband.
Caring for her own children as well as others is very crucial.
Do not despise children from other mothers. Discipline the child who is going the wrong way.
Ensure family bonding, show love and don’t discriminate. Connection with children is very important, especially the females. Find out who is her friend. Also find out the kind of lives they live. Caution, counsel and guide so that they make good partners.
Teaching children the dos and donts should start from birth. Inculcate the word of God in them so that when they grow, will not depart from it.
From the Scripture, some women influenced their families positively. Virgin Mary influenced the world, she never destroyed herself hence she gave birth to Jesus Christ.
Elizabeth, despite her age, God blessed her as she waited patiently.
A wise should curb favouritism in the family and love children equally. Whether a child is your biological child or not, it is necessary to show love equally. Reprimanding the children should be the function of both man and wife.

Women

The Desire Of Every Woman In Marriage

Published

1 day ago

April 26, 2024

The Tide

Marriage is beautiful when there is love. Before and after marriage, couples show love to themselves. But you discover that after some years, that same love turn to be something else. A lot of people start going through emotional trauma in the hands of their loved spouses.
There are many things the woman desires to keep the love on as far as marriage is concerned.
Women are blesssed with feminine abilities that can be used for good in husbands lives. With your abilities, you can create a marriage that will last till couples get old.
A woman needs
man that is honest, trustworthy, nice, loving and financially stable.
There are no two ways about finance in marriage. No matter the level of love, if there is no reasonable finance, it is always difficult to manage the home.
Referring to the Biblical belief in Genesis 3: “Your desire shall be unto you…….. “
What this means is that whatever the woman desires in life shall be provided as far as she performs her role in her home. There are many things the woman expects her husband to take care of.
A woman wants a husband that is not lazy, at least helping to do one or two things when he is at home.
A man that is educated and intelligent so that they will transfer such traits to their children.
Knowing that there are traits that her husband has, traits of taking care of people, giving freely to people and caring for her family. She expects him to exhibit them.
A woman wants to love a husband that has family interest at heart. A man that spends time with his family, remembering his family even as he is away from home.
No matter where he finds himself, he is not destracted by external influence. He returns home to his loved ones.
A woman should not antagonise her husband because of one error or the other. No matter the level of offence he may have committed, you still show some love.
According to the Scripture, it is with wisdom that a woman builds her home. As far as he rreturns home, you accept him as your own.
It is not as if the woman will not monitor her husband, but to certain limit. Don’t be a monitoring spirit. Don’t allow anything to take your joy.
Don’t loose trust in your husband. The idea of checking your husband’s phone should be discouraged. The more you check your husband and his phone, the more you loose your joy.
You can show some form of jealousy, but to an extent. Cooperation, respect and being honoured from time to time is what the woman desires.
The home should not be a battle ground for a woman and man. A woman should be able to ask herself if the check on her husband will pay her any good.
Draw a line to a point where you checkmate your husband’s activities.
A woman wants a man that will love her and telling her you love her will be all she desires.

Women

The Desire Of Every Woman In Marriage

Published

3 weeks ago

April 5, 2024

The Tide

A woman needs a man that is honest, trustworthy, nice, loving and financially stable.
There are no two ways about finance in marriage. No matter the level of love, If there is no money, it is always difficult.

Referring to the Biblical belief in Genesis 3:Your desire shall be unto you……..
That is one aspect the woman expects her husband to take care of.
A woman wants a husband that is not lazy, at least helping to do one or two things. A man that is educated and intelligent.
She knows that there is a trait that her husband has. Traits of taking care of people, giving freely to people and caring for her family.
A woman wants to love a husband that has family interest at heart. A man that spends time with his family, remembering his family even as he is away from home.
A woman should not antagonise her husband because of one error or the other. No matter the level of offence he may have committed, you still show some love.

According to the Scripture, it is with wisdom that the women builds her home.
It is not as if the woman will not monitor her husband, but to certain limit. Don’t be a monitoring spirit. Don’t allow anything to take your joy.
Don’t loose trust in your husband.
The idea of checking your husband’s phone should be discouraged. The more you check your husband and his phone, the more you loose your joy.

The home should not be a battle ground for a woman and man. A woman should be able to ask herself if the check on her husband will pay her any good.
Draw a line to a point where you checkmate your husband’s activities.
A woman wants a man that will love her and telling her you love her will be all she desires.