Wife of the Borno State Governor, Hajiya Nana Kashim Shettima has appealed to good spirited individuals and donor agencies to support widows and orphans in the state.
He said such would help these category of people to carter for their domestic needs.
The First Lady made the appeal on Tuesday while flagging off distribution of cash and food items to 400 muslim widows and orphans in the spirit of the Holy month of Ramadan Kareem/fasting.
She said the rate at which people died in the state had forced many women and children to become widows and orphans, noting that, government alone could not carter for their needs.
She added that collective support from all and sundry towards assisting the less privileged would go along way in reducing the increasing cases of streets begging in the society.
Hajiya Nana who is the founder, Support for Widows, Orphans and Tsangaya (SWOT) said, widowhood was not by choice, but an inevitable situation that only few experienced at a time in life when husband or wife died.
She disclosed that SWOT was set up to assist the less privileged, particularly during the Ramadan fasting, stressing that Allah had specifically mentioned in the Holy Qur’an that “there is special reward for those who supported Widows and Orphans”.
She noted that SWOT foundation’s main focus is the widows, orphans and Tsangaya pupils, among others, as according to her, these special group of people were bedevilled with a lot of challenges.
She said the only way out of this situation was to make them self- reliant through education and eventual financial independence.
Nana, however, promised that “SWOT In-Sha-Allah, will not relent in supporting the less privileged within its limited resources to ensure that they have a sense of belonging and cushion their hardship under any condition they found themselves”.
Earlier, the Chairman of SWOT Foundation, Alhaji Mohammed Bello thanked Nana Kashim Shettima for her concern on the plight of widows and orphans.
She called on residents to use the period of the Ramadan to pray for the restoration of peace in the state.
Bello said each of the widows and orphans would be given a bag of sugar and rice, in addition to cash donations which may assist them to address some of their immediate needs.
The Chairperson of Widows Association in Borno State, Mrs. Mairo Umar Bassa on behalf of her colleagues thanked Governor Kashim Shettima and his wife, Nana Shettima for supporting widows, orphans and less privileged in the state.
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