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By Kelechi Esogwa-Amadi
Effort by the Rivers State Government to eradicate widowhood practices in the state is yielding results. This is because the once high rate of such practices has drastically reduced in the state.
The permanent secretary, Rivers State Ministry of Women Affairs, Mrs Atosemi Eson Teetito, made this disclosure during a chat with our reporter in her office in Port Harcourt recently.
She attributed this drop in widowhood practices to the effective sensitization and awareness campaigns carried out by the ministry, in collaboration with other gender advocacy groups in the state such as the Federation of International Women Lawyers (FIDA), GADA and others.
Mrs Teetito said the modus operandi adopted by the ministry and its gender advocacy partners, in curbing the inhuman practices, include talking to the women who perpetrate these widowhood practices, convincing them to stop the act, and supporting them to seek alternate means of sustaining themselves, since the act is part of their livelihood.
The permanent secretary further said that a law prohibiting widowhood practices is already in place in Rivers State, adding that in no distant time, such practices and other related acts, such as female circumcision, would soon be things of the past.
As part of activities towards celebrating this year’s international Widows’ day, Teetito said the ministry of women affairs, in collaboration with a non-governmental organization, organized a skills acquisition for about 30 widows to mark the event.
The widows, she said, were trained on soap making and other skills, adding that they knowledge would help them to fend for themselves and their families.
