NGO Seeks Law To Protect Widows In Nigeria
WealthyGen, Inc, a Non Governmental Organisation (NGO) has called for special laws that would protect widows from inhuman cultural treatment in Nigeria.
Dr. Charity Ezenwa Onuaku, Founder of the NGO made the call in Awka on Wednesday.
Onuaku, a United States based Financial Expert most cultural practices in Nigeria were still subjecting women to multiple tragedies of loss of husbands, family rejection and denial of rights which led to untold hardship.
She said though there was law on violence against women which had been domesticated in some states but not fully implemented, there was need to give special protection to women who lost their husbands.
According to her, governments in Nigeria should not abandon women especially those whose husbands are late to suffer untold hardship without help of any sort.
Onuaku said that is why she set up WealthyGen in 2018 as a gender based NGO with the main aim of uplifting rural women and widows to enable them carry on with the task of catering to their children.
WealthyGen aims at education and empowering women, we also make them become aware of their rights to decent life and financial freedom in spite of the death of their spouse.
“We have reached out to the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria, this is done through genuine contacts and whenever they are discovered, we swing into action and render our services.
“So far, our organisation has empowered no fewer than 50 widows in the last three years and women not just in Anambra alone but other states in Nigeria by giving them financial education and training.
“They have to save from the little income they earn, they have to invest smartly and apply their human capital, I can tell you that the beneficiaries have grown and become providers for their homes,” she said.
The University teacher urged women to see themselves as equal stakeholders in the society and don’t rely on tokenism to get their rights in the society.
