A faith-based humanitarian organisation, Zakat and Sadaqat Foundation (ZSF), has called on government at all levels to see to the stoppage stigmatisation against widows.
ZSF’s Executive Director, Prince Sulayman Olagunju, made the call on Wednesday in Lagos at an event to mark the 2021 International Widows Day (IWD).
This year’s theme was ‘Invisible Women, Invisible Problems’.
The foundation empowered five widows with the sum of N6.5 million.
Olagunju urged policymakers to curb the persecution of widows in some communities.
“Today provides an opportunity for us to lend our voices against the stigmatisation and persecution of widows. We have many widows that applied for zakat but after screening, we selected some of them due to scarce resources.
“We gave N6.5 million to five widows for empowerment. They have undergone training within the time they applied and now they are collecting the money for their businesses,” Olagunju said.
Chairman of ZSF’s IWD, Hajiya Basheerah Jawando, appealed to government and non-governmental organisations to come to the aid of widows.
She said: “ZSF decided to commemorate the day with the rest of the world because in some parts of the world, widows face maltreatment that makes them invisible.
“This year’s theme was apt because many widows become invisible in the society when their husbands die. Some ethnic groups still treat them with disdain, making them objects of inheritance, abandon them and neglect their children. These should stop,” she said.
Dhikrat King, a widow with six children who lost her husband seven years ago, said it had been tough raising the children alone.
She thanked the foundation for coming to her aid.
The Oyo State chapter of the foundation, also on Wednesday in Ibadan, presented seven widows with tools with which they can enhance their works and improve the well-being of their families.
The ZSF Administrative Officer in the state, Malam Qasim Durojaye, who presided over the presentation ceremony alongside the state female coordinator of the foundation, Hajiya Rizqat Abdul-Ganiy, said the presentation was done in commemoration of the 2021 International Widows Day.
The International Widows Day is a United Nations-ratified day of action to address the “poverty and injustice faced by millions of widows and their dependants in many countries”. The day takes place annually on June 23.
Five of the beneficiaries at the ZSF commemorative event in Ibadan were presented with three grinding machines, a multipurpose industrial sewing machine and a deep freezer. The other two, an operator of a patent medicine store and a dealer in fairly used clothes, received cash donations of N100,000 each to replenish their stores with fresh supplies.
Malam Durojaye said: “We have just seven beneficiaries for this year’s edition of the International Widows Day commemoration and there are reasons for that. Today’s beneficiaries represent just a fraction of the number of widows that are among the about 100 people that have already applied to Zakat and Sadaqat Foundation for zakat this year.
“The donation of the items is a way of empowering them and helping them to achieve a better living. We have presented these items to them to complement their works and efforts. And we are very hopeful that Allah will bless them so much that in near future, they will also become some of the benefactors of ZSF.
“We hope that they will be able to use these gifts they have got from Allah through ZSF to start to turn things around for themselves and their children.
“The seven widows who have benefitted from the programme this year were all drawn from Ibadan alone. We are projecting to reach out to no fewer than 50 widows that will be drawn from across Oyo State next year, insha Allah.
“We are planning on achieving this by creating more awareness and notifying our benefactors that taking care of widows is one of our key areas of need. By the time we get more benefactors to subscribe to this initiative, we are optimistic that there will be more funds and to assist 50 widows will become feasible.”
The state coordinator of the foundation, Dr Nofiu Musa, was represented at the programme by his deputy, Malam Jamiu Abdul-Azeez.
Hajiya Habibat Solahudeen, who spoke on behalf of the beneficiaries, expressed gratitude to the donors and organisers of the programme.
She prayed Allah to continue to bless them “so that they could sustain this life-changing programme.” She also beseeched Allah to transform her and the other beneficiaries into donors in near future.
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