Mrs Rachael Adewumi, founder of TAKEM Empowerment Initiatives (TEIs), an NGO, has advised women against remaining full-time housewives.
Adewumi, at an end-of-year party on Sunday in Abuja, urged women to get an employment or learn a trade.
The party was organised by the NGO to support widows with household items.
Adewumi explained that it was no longer news that a lot of women go into depression as a result of the sudden death of their husbands, who were the bread winners of the family.
“Such narrative must change; women should be allowed to work to support their husbands so that they won’t be a burden to anyone when their husbands are not there.
“A lot of them with nothing to fall back on, end up dying as well, leaving the children to suffer in the hands of the society or relatives.
“Some even go into prostitution and are exposed to diseases. It is necessary for us to advise women not to rely solely on their husbands, ” she said.
According to her, the NGO has empowered 500 Abuja rural women to improve and sustain their livelihoods through different support programmes.
She added that women ready to learn had been supported through scholarships and payment of school fees across the three levels of education in the country.
She said that youths and widows had benefited from conventional training and starter packs with which to start up businesses.
According to her, the NGO was launched a year ago to support and improve the living standard of deprived Nigerians, particularly those at the grassroots.
“With passionate minds, we are striving to bridge the gaps between the government and the needy, especially widows, women, unemployed youth and children, through capacity building.
“This is aimed at eradicating poverty in the country and solving the issue of unemployment among graduates.
“Our vision is ensuring a community in which everyone enjoys and participates in socio-economic activities for sustainable growth and productivity,” she added.
She, however, said that the NGO would ensure that every community in the rural areas identified opportunities for themselves and others in the nearest future.
Highlights of the event was the distribution of rice, maggi, salt and groundnut oil to each widow in attendance.
