The Anglican Bishop of Abakaliki Diocese, Rt. Rev. Monday Chukwuma Nkwagu has lamented the increasing number of orphaned children and widows in Nigeria.
He attributed the continuously rising number to high incidence of insecurity, banditry, communal clashes and other criminal acts that abound across the country.
Bishop Nwagu raised the concern in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State capital, during a Christmas party for widows and orphans.
About 2,000 widows and orphans received Christmas relief from the Church in collaboration with the diocesan nongovernmental organisation: Anglican Diocese of Abakaliki Health and Community Development Initiative, ADAHCDI.
The packages including bags of rice, beans, garri, groundnut oil, noodles, canned tomato pastes and other condiments, were distributed to the beneficiaries Tuesday at the All Saints Cathedral Abakaliki.
There were also unnamed amounts of cash donations to enable them to meet other domestic expenditures during the yuletide.
Nkwagu said: “Last year, 2021, the number was about 1,200 widows.
“You saw this time that the number increased.
“Everywhere, because of violence, killings, communal crises, a lot of children are left orphans, and women widowed.
In a homily, Nkwagu admonished the widows and orphans to place their faith ultimately in God, pledging that the Church would continue to make them prominent beneficiaries of its welfare schemes.
In an interview, Rev Chukwuebuka Umeokafor, the Project Manager of the Anglican Diocese of Abakaliki Health and Community Development Initiative, explained that the NGO in collaboration with the Diocese officially instituted the welfare scheme in 2012.
He stated that there were over 2000 widows as well as orphans profiled in its database, and commended the Bishop for his passion, which he noted, has continued to inspire the organization from inception.
“We are motivated by the passion and vision of the Bishop, Right Rev’d Monday Nkwagu.
“He has served in remote areas as a priest, and understands fully what the widows and orphans are going through.
“So, when he was elected the Bishop, he took the commitment to ensure that we institute a program towards the end of the year, through which the widows and other vulnerable groups could be taken care of, so they don’t feel inferior when others are celebrating Christmas.
“We have been doing this since 2012, and we have over 2000 widows in our database.
“We also have children of some of these widows and the orphans under educational scholarship from our NGO up to the university level.
“Currently, we have up to 30 of these children in various higher institutions across the country,” Umeokafor explained.
The programme coordinator and wife of the Bishop, Lady Nwanyieze Nkwagu and one of the widows and orphans coordinators in the Church, Evangelist Ifeyinwa Ochebiri, admonished the widows to eternalize the life of piety so as to continue to attract God’s providence.
Ochebiri commended the Bishop’s wife for the zeal and Godly wisdom with which he handles the affairs of these vulnerable groups.
Some of the beneficiaries who bared their minds said the annual event always offered them hope and joy as well as strengthened their faith in God.
One of them, Ijeoma Nweke said: “We are highly delighted that from our remote communities, we are always remembered. It has been many years since they did this.
“I pray to God to bless all those who have contributed in any way to give this succour to us.”