"My husband died six years ago and left me with the burden of solely providing for the family. I'm not educated; so I had to come back to the village where the family members have been so kind to give us a piece of land to be farming on. I wake up as early as 4am to prepare food for the children and then leave for the farm by 6am. I don't come back until evening.
"My late husband worked with a construction firm as a labourer and left us with no pension. Last year, I had to sell our refrigerator to augment my elder daughter's junior secondary school exams fee. The responsibility before is on the rise every day and I don't know how far I can withstand the pressure, she said amidst tears and sobs as she narrates her ordeal to our reporter who happens to be in that vicinity on an official assignment.
This is one of the many cases of abject poverty Nigerian women suffer due to the sudden demise of their husbands who in most cases is the bread winner of the family.
Another pathetic case is that of Mama Elizabeth, a mother of five who had to take up two menial jobs to meet the responsibilities before her. She narrates: "My life is filled with pain and suffering. We were relatively comfortable when my husband was alive; he took care of us well before the cold hands of death suddenly snatched her away from us. Since then, life has been cruel to me. One of my daughters became pregnant in JJS 2; my first son died in a motor accident. My second son works as a house-help for a man lives in Ghana. I have not seen him for the past two years. My other son has finished secondary but cannot further his studies because I cannot afford it. He is an apprentice in one of the mechanic shops close to our house. The baby of the house is still in secondary school."
In this part of the world, when people talk about poverty, the first thought that comes to mind is women and children. They bear the direct brunt of poverty in the society. They live in a society that still, in many respects, treats women as second-class citizens. Women's supposedly predominant roles are as bearers and carriers of children.
Martha Adewale is a retired matron who now runs an NGO, OREMI Rural Women Foundation. Speaking to LEADERSHIP on the subject, she said Nigeria women are direct bearers of poverty in our society.
"Poverty is not peculiar to Nigerian women only but women in Africa as whole. What is making our case peculiar is because of the abundant resources we have here. It is better in the city because they have menial work like cleaning, and petty trading. But those in the rural areas share the direct burden of poverty because they live on subsistence farming. They live without electricity, pipe-borne water, good roads and clinics. I am an advocate of self employment as the way out. If rural women can be given soft loans to start a small scale business, not only will they deliver their families, they will also help their communities. You will be surprised to see that women can start mega business with just N10,000.
"Nigerian women are very industrious, what they lack is the funds and the right environment. Our women have no reason to live as beggars. If the various organs of governments at the local, state and federal level can create conducive atmosphere and provide basic infrastructures like good roads and electricity, good health care and free education, Nigeria will turn around the fortune of this nation," the grandmother asserted.
Dr Bernard Ilagbo is an activist and consultant on rural poverty and solutions. He also believes that poverty has a human face in Nigeria. He said: "I agree with you that poverty has a human face in Nigeria because it is women that looks impoverished when you see them. It is the women that wear old, tattered wrappers with unkempt hair, carrying buckets on their head and backing children on their back. That is what our government has turned our women to. In spite of our enomours resources and oil wealth, poverty is widespread in Nigeria and women bear it most. The situation is getting worst by the day; we are ranked among the poorest countries in the world. The situation is worst in rural areas where social services and infrastructure are or non-existent. The majority of people who live in rural areas are poor and depend on subsistance agriculture for surivival.
"Women in these areas most times provide food for the men. They also often go to the market to sell the little they were able to save to make money and augument their meagre income. Most women in rural areas suffer from malnutrition and other diseases related to poor nutrition. With all their efforts, it is heart breaking that women are still regarded as second class citizens in our socieity.
"For us to overcome this problem, governemnt must at all levels provide infrastructure, create employment, provide free education for children and make healthcare services free. If these things are put in place, poverty will be reduced to the bearest minimum in Nigeria. Besides, when you educate a man, you have empowered an individual, but when women are educated, a whole community is being empowered."