The Federal Government renewed its commitment to protecting the widows from harmful traditional practices, while expanding economic opportunities and social protection programmes targeted at improving their livelihoods, as Nigeria joined the international community to mark the 2026 International Widows’ Day.
The Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Hon. Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim in a statement to mark the occasion on Tuesday said widows are critical pillars of families and communities whose resilience sustains generations, notwithstanding the enormous challenges that come with the loss of a spouse.
With the theme “Justice, Dignity and Economic Power for Widows”, the anniversary urges for tangible action by governments, institutions and citizens to move beyond pity and provide practical support to ensure justice, restore dignity and provide economic opportunities for widows.
She said widowhood is still a major social and socioeconomic problem with an estimated 258 million widows in the world and over two million in Nigeria. Many Nigerian widows face economic difficulties, social marginalisation and discrimination, she said, and are often carers and breadwinners.
She observed that for many women, the death of a spouse typically causes a sequence of vulnerabilities ranging from loss of inheritance, property grabbing, housing insecurity, social humiliation and reduced access to economic resources.
Sulaiman-Ibrahim raised alarm on the continuous persistence of damaging widowhood customs in some communities including demeaning mourning rites, forced imprisonment, disinheritance, charges linked to the death of spouses and forced remarriage.
She said the practices violate human dignity and justice, adding that they have no place in a contemporary society and are criminal by the Nigerian law. “The Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act, 2015, criminalises harmful widowhood practices and prescribes punishment for offenders. “The government is committed to enforcing these provisions and no widow has to suffer in silence,” she said.
The minister also underlined the government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s commitment to the protection of vulnerable citizens through the Renewed Hope Agenda, which prioritises women, families and social protection as the drivers of national growth.
She said that the declaration of 2026 as the Year of Families and Social Development indicates the significance of empowering families as the foundation of national stability, pointing out that widows are also crucial to the development of families and communities.
Sulaiman-Ibrahim, who also spoke on ongoing interventions, said the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development was carrying out programmes in all the 774 local government areas of Nigeria through the Renewed Hope Social Impact Intervention (RHSII-774) to offer empowerment, protection and opportunities to vulnerable groups, including widows.
She disclosed that the ministry in 2025, in partnership with Helpline Support for the Needy, enrolled 17 clusters of widows into the National Health Insurance Scheme, thus enhancing access to affordable healthcare and easing the burden of medical bills.
All the clusters got funding of N500,000 to boost cooperative ventures and improve income-generating activities and healthcare coverage. The minister said the intervention has helped many of the beneficiaries to grow their companies and embrace contemporary backyard farming practices, which are a boost to food security and household resilience.
The ministry has also offered vocational training, business development, digital skills programmes, agricultural help, financial inclusion schemes and psychosocial services to thousands of widows around the country.
The minister noted that the initiatives are gradually changing the lives of the widows and assisting them to transition from dependency to self-reliance, from vulnerability to productivity.
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She said the commemoration of the International Widows’ Day was tied to the ministry’s approaching National Women Mega Empowerment and Rally, with the theme “The Power of 10 Million: One Voice. One Movement “One Choice” which is aimed at bringing together women around the country, including widows, in a communal movement for empowerment and national reform.
Sulaiman-Ibrahim called for more collaboration among traditional rulers, religious leaders, government institutions, development partners, civil society organisations and the private sector, urging the stakeholders to redouble their efforts to eliminate harmful practices of widowhood, expand economic opportunities and strengthen legal protections for widows.
She said Nigeria must construct a future where widowhood does not lead to poverty and exclusion but a platform for resilience, dignity and economic prosperity.
The minister said that as the nation joins the rest of the world to celebrate the International Widows’ Day, the government was determined to guarantee that widows are protected, empowered and fully involved in the country’s development strategy.
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