NEWS & EVENTS

Adwef Founder Wins an Award

Willie Workman Oga founder Advocacy for Widows Empowerment Foundation(adweF) honoured with The Global Essence Outstanding NGO Award 2017 in recognition of selfless service to the society. The event was held at Sheraton hotel Ikeja Lagos.

Fadama3 with ADWEF Widows

World Bank and Federal Government FADAMA3 project partners with adwef widows, builds Green House farm plus other intervention equipments for our widows in Jos Plateau State zone .

Lagos State Government under the Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation

Partners Advocacy for widows empowerment foundation (Adwef) on skills acquisition by training some of our widows in various profession which is currently on going.

Charity for Widows Groove & Awards 2017 Xmas Party

It’s yet another end of year party for OUR Charity 4 widows Gruv and Awards, to show love to widows and their children during the xmas season. For donations, support and sponsorship call 08182786623.

Adwef marks International Widows Day – Lagos State Comm for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation advices Widows.

The Lagos State government has advised widows not to loose hope due to the transition of their spouses but endeavour to summon courage and forge ahead in life in order to be able to cater for their children and other members of their families left behind by their husbands.
In a statement by Mr. Dele Ojo, head, Communications, Advocacy for Widows Empowerment Foundation (AdWEF), the Lagos state commissioner for women affairs and Poverty Alleviation gave tahe advice in Ikeja at an event to commemorate the 2017 international widows day on Friday June 23, 2017, organized by Advocacy for Widows Empowerment Foundation (AdWEF), a non-governmental organization.

According to the commissioner, represented by Ms Raji Funmilayo , widows are an integral part of the society, irrespective of the loss of their husbands, pointing out that the Lagos state government has plans for them, adding that they should organize themselves under one umbrella in order to make it easier for government’s intervention in their plight.
Welcoming the about 500 widows that attended the event, Mr. Willie Workman-Oga, Executive Director of AdWEF, highlighted the NGO’s objectives, noting that the organization is five years old, stating that within the last five years of its existence, AdWEF has played important roles in the lives of its member widows through various empowerment programmes with support from Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc, Ajinomoto, Icoh, and Indulge Group.
According to him, “At the beginning we started with only five widows at our then little office on ACME road but today we have grown to over 3,000 members spread across the country. We have conducted empowerment programmes to majority of our members with working tools such as sewing machines, grinding machines, fertilizers etc. were distributed”,
He explained the NGO have widow farmers in Benue, Kaduna and Jos Plateau states and they are doing fine, pointing out that the outfit also conducted free dental test by Icoh and breast cancer tests conducted by Cebeekly Cancer Care and Plan B Agencies for its members, while scholarships have been secured to children of some members courtesy of ADWEF, Tar Zor Lee Foundation Dublin and other spirited individuals.
He confessed that the current economic recession is hindering our sponsorship drive as most organizations are cutting cost drastically to stay in business, but we hope things will improve before the end of this year so that we can continue our empowerment programmes”.
Meanwhile, Barrister Chigozie Ezeonyejiaku representative of FIDA Chairperson in Lagos at the event enlightened the widows on their rights under Nigeria’s constitution and encouraged them to always seek legal redress whenever their rights are trampled upon.

Adwef Solicits for More Partners in Preparation to Empower Our Widows This Year. We Need Your Financial & Material Support for Our Widows Empowerment Day Taking Place on The 23rd June 2017

Tar Zor Lee Foundation founded by Primerose Obata Dodo and other spirited individuals have donated and signed on to our Sponsor A Widows Child Educational  Project. The idea of the project is to ensure a secured and guaranteed future for widows children who can not continue their education across Nigeria due to lack of funds. We look forward to having more partners with a big heart like you on board this project.

Seplat Petroleum Partners AWEF on Widows Empowerment

One of Nigeria’s leading oil and Gas firm Seplat Petroleum Development Company Ltd has thrown its weight behind the annual Advocacy for Widows Empowerment foundation’s AWEF Widows Empowerment Project Day coming up on the 1st of Nov 2013 in Lagos.
In a release from the office of the NGO, it stated that as part of its core area of focus which is the empowerment of widows, corporate organizations like Seplat Petroleum have demonstrated its believe in the emancipation and economic liberation of the Nigerian widow from the web of poverty and neglect in our various communities. The event will witness the presentation of working tools, startup business capital, testimonials, raffle draw, while some widows will be sent on vocational training to acquire more entrepreneurial skills.

Other organizations partnering with AWEF for the event includes Banex Industries, Indulge Magazine, and Indulge Confectioneries.
Some notable speakers like Dr (Mrs) Bisi Abiola entrepreneur, publisher, author and wellness expert will all deliver a key note address at the event.
In a related development, Advocacy For Widows Empowerment (AWEF) also frowns at the high level of insecurity in the country that has left many a woman to become widows prematurely. In the last three or more years, the activities of the dreaded Boko Haram sect in the northern part of the country has produced more widows than ever imagined. Most of the law enforcement personnel on routine assignments have been killed, while mostly places of worships are destroyed by suicide bombers, causing numerous death tolls, while many women are left as widows.

Also in Plateau state in the central part of the country, the lingering communal clashes coupled with the terror of the Boko Haram sect and Fulani cattle rearers in the area in the last decade has generated more widows than ever imagined. The southern part of the country is not spared by the effects of insecurity on the generation of widows in the country. For instance, in the Niger Delta region, agitation for resource control by the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta region (MEND) brought untold hardship, and many men were killed, thus adding to the club of widowhood in the area and the country at large.
Also the activities of armed bandits and kidnappers have led to untimely death of many fathers, resulting in the early widowhood of womenfolk.

Increasing widowhood has its negative effects on the victims and the country at large. For instance, the immediate effect is the untold hardship the widows are exposed to due to untimely death of their husbands, the family bread winners. Considering the fact that most of these less privildged widows do not have sustainable source of income, they are unable to cater for their children, which may result in these children dropping out of schools, and eventually becoming vagabonds in the society. This on the long run may lead to further insecurity in the society, as they become bandits and pick up arms against the society.
At Advocacy For Widows’ Empowerment Foundation (ADwef), we believe that insecurity in the country should as a matter of urgency be curbed and quickly addressed if not totally eradicated by the government, so as to bring succor to the teeming Nigerian women. Also all other communal rivalries should be resolved quickly to pave the way for development, and the reduction in the increasing number of widowhood in the country.

Dele Ojo
Head, Communications &Project Evaluation

Advocacy For Widows Empowerment Foundation (Awef) Organizes Free Medical Test For Widows.

Advocacy for Widows Empowerment Foundation (awef), a non-governmental organization with the cutting edge of advocating for the rights of widows and empowerment, has organized a free medical test event tagged ADWEF HEALTH CHECK 4 WIDOWS to enable them to know their health status, as part of a comprehensive programme by the foundation.

The event is aimed at creating health awareness to the Nigerian widows and proffering solutions in form of issuing a medical advice that will enhance their health and other HEALTH RELATED issues and at the same time educating them on the benefits of health checks and their wellbeing.

The programme was carried out in association with Plan B Agencies, a professional health care organization that specializes in the care and companionship of the elderly, the sick or those recuperating from illness in the comfort of their homes irrespective of their age.

According to Willie Workman-Oga, Founder, Awef the aim of the programme is to enlighten the widows on some fundamental health issues for them to know their health status,  so that they can manage their health and stay healthy, while pursuing their various vocations for the survival of their families.

Noting that the programme will be an annual event, Workman-Oga explained that it is the intension of the NGO to contribute positively to the lives of widows, while aligning with government agencies, traditional rulers and other international organizations who have passion for widows’ empowerment.

He stressed that Adwef desires to help widows that already have businesses upgrade their business, while those in the verge of starting a business would be empowered such that they can contribute positively to the upliftment of widowhood and the community in which they reside.

The vision of the Foundation is to see the total liberation of widows from the ugly norms of deprivation of inheritance and abuse of their human rights to a place where they are encouraged, nurtured to discover and utilize their hidden entrepreneurial skills by becoming contributors to their community’s development as employers of labor.

Some of the Foundation’s roles are: to cooperate with existing NGOs to educate men on the need to write their wills early in life and also to make their wife’s their next of kin in all insurance, employment and banking document in order to ease the accessibility of funds for use of their family in instances of their deaths.

Niyi Olaleye, CEO, Plan B Agencies advised that the participating widows should strive to check their health status regularly, noting that good health is the most easily enjoyed, stressing that no poor man would exchange his health for money.

Plan B Agencies was established in response to the need for the elderly, the sick and the recuperating in the society to have access to tender loving care in the comfort of their own homes knowing this is where they feel safest and most secured.

Dele Ojo
Head, Communications &Project Evaluation

Combating the Rapid Rise of Widowhood in Nigeria-Our View

Sometime in Nigeria, the Kano state government reportedly conducted mass wedding ceremonies for 1,000 widows in the state, as a way of alleviating their plight in the state and by extension in the country. By the day the numbers of widows in Nigeria are increasing rapidly, caused by some avoidable factors, while some can not be controlled. Actually the high level of insecurity in the country has left many a woman to become widows prematurely. In the last three or more years, the activities of the dreaded Boko Haram sect in the northern part of the country has produced more widows than ever imagined. Most of the law enforcement personnel on routine assignments have been killed, while mostly places of worships are destroyed by suicide bombers, causing numerous death tolls, while many women are left as widows. In fact over 5,000 people have been killed by the sect during this period. Also in Plateau state in the central part of the country, the lingering communal clashes coupled with the terror of the Boko Haram sect in the area in the last decade has generated more widows than ever imagined.

The southern part of the country is not spared by the effects of insecurity on the generation of widows in the country. For instance, in the Niger Delta region, agitation for resource control by the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta region (MEND) brought untold hardship, and many men were killed, thus adding to the club of widowhood in the area and the country at large.

Also the activities of armed bandits, and kidnappers have led to untimely death of many fathers, resulting to the early widowhood of the womenfolk.
Increasing widowhood has its negative effects on the victims and the country at large. For instance, the immediate effect is the untold hardship the widows are exposed to due to untimely death of their husbands, the family bread winners. Considering the fact that most of these less privildged widows do not have sustainable source of income, they are unable to cater for their children, which may result in these children dropping out of schools, and eventually becoming vagabonds in the society. This on the long run may lead to further insecurity in the society, as they become bandits and pick up arms against the society. Though at some point, the federal government had signified its readiness to dialogue with the Islamic Boko Haram sect, as a way of ending the carnage in the northern part of the country, it is not yet very clear if dialogue will have the desired result as the sect refused the amnesty offer, but efforts are still being made by the current military efforts of Government to stop the carnage.

To aggressively step down insecurity in the country, we believe the onus is on the government to massively destroy the root of corruption in the country, and should not play politics with this ugly monster ravaging the fabric of the society. We should bear in mind that the lapses of our past leaders in curbing corruption at all cost has brought about the current insecurity in Nigeria, as the Bible says, whatever you sow, that you will reap. You cannot plant ginger and expect to harvest mango. So it behooves on our current crop of leadership to direct their efforts at sanitizing the government machinery, provide needed infrastructure for development to thrive, thereby creating job opportunities, also social insurance scheme should be introduced. All these are part of those measures that would create a peaceful atmosphere in Nigeria. If we fail as a nation now on these, the future may be worse for the country and her citizens.

At Advocacy for Widows’ Empowerment Foundation (adwef), we believe that insecurity in the country should as a matter of urgency be curbed if not totally eradicated by the government, so as to bring succor to the teeming Nigerian women. Also all other communal rivalries should be resolved quickly to pave the way for development, and the reduction in widowhood in the country. One of our core values is to see the total liberation of widows geared towards exploring the necessary mediums of advocacy to protect and uplift the lives and dignity of widows.