This is a very kind gesture by the comrade governor. Wish more governors would empower the masses.
According to reports by the sun news.
For women in Edo, especially the widows among them, there is something to cheer about. Only recently, the state government donated life-changing equipment that would take them from the trough they have found themselves, through no fault of theirs. The state government distributed sewing machines and grinding machines worth millions of naira to 690 elated widows.
The Oshiomhole administration embarked on the distribution of empowerment items, as economic boost for the widows, who found themselves at the receiving end of bad economy and questionable cultural beliefs that do not provide for their welfare after losing their spouses. The state government’s intervention is like manna from heaven.
The presentation, Governor Adams Oshiomhole said, had nothing to do with his encounter with a widow late last year, to whom the governor apologised. The governor also gave the widow N2 million to start life anew. The governor spoke to the in pidgin English, the medium which the beneficiaries understand very well.
He said: “It is very, very clear that what we are doing today, we are not doing it because of that incident. Because some of you may remember that in 2012, we actually provided some empowerment to widows, even though the numbers might not have been up to this number. It is it my conviction that if I give you N5, 000.00 or N10, 000.00 or indeed, any amount of money or throw at you, a bag of rice, a piece of meat to eat during Christmas or Sallah, all that does not translate to empowerment.”
“I know when you get grinding machine for village, some people go come dem wan grind pepper or cassava. The small money dem go pay people go make life go on. So who get grinding machine carry go home, if na N10 the person pay to grind pepper or tomatoe, if he get 100 people in a day how much be that one? He go don make like N500. So na small, small, who get sewing machine, who want to sew clothes, as I see all of you here now dis clothes wey una wear, wey make everybody look fine, even me self, I fine today well well, abi no bi so?” the governor said.
Oshiomhole’s assistant in charge of Special Duties and Emergencies, Hajia Maimuna Momodu, also addressed the beneficiaries. She said the presentation of such life-changing equipment would also take place in October this year.
According to her, “even when a woman has the comfort of a husband to fall back on, it is difficult enough trying to cope with everyday needs. It is better imagined what she goes through in her attempt to meet these same needs alone. Describing the experience as harrowing or traumatic is simply an understatement. We know for sure that many women have had to suffer terribly just trying to provide daily needs. It goes without saying that widows need all the help they can find to live a more meaningful life.
“Today, we are gathered here not because we have the means to totally erase the trauma associated with widowhood but as the saying goes in the local parlance: At all, at all, na im bad. Indeed, I want to assure you that this government understands and share your pains. More than that, it is a government that is very willing to do the needful in order to ameliorate the very difficult challenges you face everyday.
“Today, our state government thought it wise to share with you, the little that is available. Certainly, it is not a handout that will suffice for just one day because handouts will not help you on the long run. What it is trying to do is to empower you with the means to become self-sufficient in order to be able to provide everyday needs for yourselves.
“So every year, we will be doing it this year by the second quarter around October or November. We will do another edition of this widow empowerment programme so that gradually, everybody will get one after the other because who help person when he need, na im believe in God. Wetin we do from our heart with our hand na im go show whether we fear God or we no fear God no bi wetin person take mouth talk,” Momoh said.
While thanking the governor, one of the beneficiaries, Ms. Osumah, said: “We wish to express our profound gratitude for this great honour you have done to us and for us today for thinking it wise to invite women who have lost their husbands. Not only did you feed us yesterday but today, you are about to give to some of us things that will put smiles on our faces. With this, we say thank you sir.”
Another widow, Mrs. Felica Abike said: “When my husband died, I suffered so much. So I started selling wrappers because am a tailor. I suffered a lot from one market to another with a baby at my back and holding another one. If I did not sell, I will cry till daybreak, I will call my husband that since he died, we did not eat. So, as the Comrade Governor has called us now, he has wiped the tears on my eyes. On behalf of the women, God will continue to bless you in the name of Jesus.
“The only man who has made Edo State what it is, is our Comrade Governor; long may you live. God will continue to bless you. I have no other work to do but to pray for you. I want every widow to assure me here, I want all of us to pray for Adams Oshiomhole,” she said.
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