Although many Nigerians may have forgotten the plight of widows in the current political arrangement in the country and may not have submitted any memoranda on their behalf to the ongoing National Conference, a Non-Governmental Organisation catering for the needs of widows, Rock of Ages Empowerment Foundation, has advised delegates on issues affecting widows.
It suggested that the Conference should make recommendations to the government to enact laws that would alleviate the suffering of widows in Nigeria.
The Founder and Chief Executive Officer, RAEF, Mr. Ignatius Ezeigbo, during the commemoration of this year’s International Widows Day in Abuja, believes that since widows in Nigeria have been victims of neglect, harassment by their husbands’ families over property and other forms of harmful traditional practices, the best time to address their plight is now.
According to him, when the law is enacted, it will protect the woman, children and property from unnecessary harassment by her husband’s family over other harmful traditional practices.
He said, “I will suggest to members of the ongoing National Conference to make a recommendation to the Federal Government to enact a law that will alleviate the suffering of widows in Nigeria. In most cases when the husband dies, some family members will come and take over the property of the woman even when she has children begging for attention.
“So the conference should look at it entirely to protect the woman and the property of her husband from unnecessary harassment from her husband’s family. The law should be from one step to the other, by the time government enacts a law to take care of those issues, the case of traditional harmful practices would be checked.
“For instance, in many cultures, the woman is compelled to drink the water that has been used to wash the corpse of her husband to ascertain her innocence and swear that she was not responsible for his death. Such laws should ensure that those traditional beliefs no longer apply to a woman who is bereaved.”
Ezeigbo stated that about 15 million widows in Nigeria are currently looking for attention and assistance, stressing that the number of widows in the North-East had increased from 10,000 in 2013 to a higher figure because of the activities of the Boko Haram Islamic sect.
“While I was in Maiduguri, the number was more but insurgency has increased the number of widows in the North-East,” he stated
Also speaking, a Deputy Director in the Ministry of Women Affairs, Mrs. Mary Isong, commended the organisation for its interest in the plight of widows.
She said, “What you are doing today is remarkable, especially in this era when the population of widows is steadily increasing as a result of the recent spate of terror attacks unleashed on the society by some violent groups in various parts of the country.
“These women have lost their husbands lose their lives and even their children. These ugly incidents have forced women to cater for themselves and their children alone.”
Diplomat wants confab to change Nigeria to ‘Naijiria’
A former Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations and Founder, Okali Seminal Ideas Foundation for Africa, Dr Agwu Okali, has proposed to the ongoing National Conference to change the name ‘Nigeria’ to ‘Naijiria’ due to embarrassments suffered by the country in the international community.
He stated that the peak of the various embarrassments arising from the name, Nigeria was when the flag of Niger Republic was erroneously hoisted in place of Nigeria’s during the opening ceremony of the ongoing World Cup in Brazil.
“As proud and enlightened Africans, after 100 years, Nigerians should change the name as other people abroad might be wondering whether the citizens are not intellectually minded as to realise the derogatory implication of the name,” Okali told journalists in Abuja.
He said, “We think that the ongoing National Conference affords us the opportunity and in fact imposes on us a responsibility to tidy up some of the legacies of our colonial past that are still hunting us. One of them is ‘Nigeria’ as it is written.
“During the opening ceremony of the ongoing World Cup in Brazil, there was an embarrassing incident. The incident, simply put, was that the flag of Niger, our neighbouring country was displayed as the Nigerian flag. Now, many people may ask why? The reason is that the way the two countries’ names were written makes it very easy to confuse them and requires a high level of concentration to differentiate.”
While stating that sometimes the national anthem of the country was not played in international events because of the confusion, he expressed disappointment that the name, ‘Nigeria’ with its undertone of ‘nigger’ had been derogatorily applied to Nigerians in many instances by the white nationalities.
Okali stressed, “The second problem related to the word, ‘Nigeria’ is the way it is spelt. The issue here is that it normally should be pronounced as Ni-ge-ria. That is the case in any African language including your own and in many other languages. So what happened is that it now becomes associated with ‘Nigger-Area’ and as you know the word ‘nigger’ is the most derogatory term you can use for a black person as far as racism is concerned. So our name suggests it and we are saying this is absurd. The greatest black African country is flirting with the worst word that you should be using for a black person.”
According to him, the name ‘Nigeria’ lacked in African content unlike many other African names, and wondered why the citizens have not thought of changing it.
According to Okali, the origin of ‘Niger’ is a Latin word meaning ‘Nigger’, saying that that was where the colonialists drew the name ‘Nigeria’ from.
A delegate from the South-East, Prof Chinedu Nwajiuba, who was with the diplomat, stated that he was going to make the proposal to the National Conference, adding that since Nigerian youths in their music and arts had already keyed into the name ‘Naija’, it had become imperative to recommend it to the Federal Government.
Citing the cases of Ghana renamed from ‘Gold Coast’, ‘Upper Volta’ changed to Burkina Faso and ‘Dahomey’ renamed Benin Republic, Nwajiuba noted that the height of the embarrassment associated with the name Nigeria was that fraud perpetrated by Nigeriens (Citizens of Niger Republic) abroad were attributed to Nigerians due to the similarity in the two names.
He was of the opinion that since it had become difficult to make an outright change of the name, it was necessary to localise it and give it an African coloration.
Bakassi ceded to avert war
– Ita-Giwa
The loss of Bakassi peninsula to the Republic of Cameroon through the Green Tree Agreement was in a bid to avert war between Nigeria and Cameroon, a delegate at the ongoing National Conference, Senator Florence Ita Giwa has said.
Ita Giwa, who decried the ceding of the peninsula, called on the Federal Government to placate the Bakassi people through the payment of compensation to them.
Ita Giwa, who is also known as “Mama Bakassi”, stated this in Abuja while making her contribution on the report of the Committee on Foreign Policy and Diaspora Matters.
The former lawmaker said the ceding arrangement, which was ordered by the International Court of Justice at The Hague, Netherlands and carried out by former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration, was just “to show to the world that two countries can settle a dispute without necessarily spilling blood or staying perpetually in court.”
She, however, appealed to other stakeholders to prevail on the Federal Government to adequately compensate the people of Bakassi even though they had been relocated.
She said, “Commenting on the Green Tree Agreement, Nigeria after the end of the military intervention subjected herself to the jurisdiction in The Hague. Nigeria was obliged to abide by that ruling as we were told. But by being obliged to that ruling, government used Bakassi as a litmus test to show to the world that two countries can settle a dispute without lost of blood and without staying forever in court.
“Nigeria signed away its territory known as Bakassi. Having subjected the people to such harrowing experience and suffering, though they have been relocated, they have not been settled.
“I appeal to this conference to show compassion by ensuring that the people of Bakassi are adequately compensated.
“What I am appealing for is that the Bakassi people should be properly settled; we will not wish this country to go to war because of Bakassi. All we are asking for is adequate compensation for the people of Bakassi.”
campusflava
No comments:
Post a Comment