Repositioning Widows and Orphans in Ekpeyeland for a Sustainable Future

This work explores the role of socio-cultural norms and practices in perpetuating enslavement and dependency in contemporary Nigeria, especially in Ekpeyeland. The work x-rayed harmful traditional widowhood practices and the gender dynamics that have plunged the majority of widows into desolation. The people of Ekpeyeland in the Ahoada East and Ahoada West LGAs of Rivers State are agrarian. Land is their main resource. It is communally owned, and only married men who have performed the initiation to married life (ubhe udhor) can have access to land. When a man dies before his wife, his widow would have to marry another member of his family (levirate marriage) in order to be able to have access to land and her late husband’s property. The widow would otherwise have to struggle on her own to be able to raise her children until they too would grow up to marry. When a husband and wife die, their children would have to be distributed among relatives to be catered for.

In today’s economy that does not follow the extended family system, this researcher seeks to find out how to reposition widows and orphans in Ekpeyeland economically for a sustainable, dignified livelihood, especially given the economic downturn in today’s world. This researcher relied on the British colonial ‘migrated’ archives files FCO141/13471, FCO1412/13611, and FCO141/13612 to study the status of widows and orphans in other regions of Nigeria and Ekpeyeland in colonial times. The researcher adopted an intersectional feminist theoretical framework and used qualitative surveys. The research advocates the empowerment of widows and orphans through strategic participation in economic programmes so that they can fend for themselves. The objective is to examine empowerment opportunities and strategies that will economically situate widows and orphans in Ekpeyeland in the emerging economies of the world. The significance of the study is to stop levirate marriage and other harmful widowhood rites and practices in Ekpeyeland.

Sarah Hope C. Menney-Amgbare, University of Port Harcourt, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Sarah Hope C. Menney-Amgbare holds a BA in Theatre Arts from the University of Calabar and an MA in Theatre Arts (Media). She also holds a PGD in Journalism, an MSc in Gender and Development Studies, and is a PhD student at the University of Port Harcourt. A veteran broadcaster, she worked at Rivers State Television Channel 22 from 1996 to 2015. She currently serves as Director of Public Affairs and Civic Education at the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission. Sarah has presented papers at international workshops and conferences, including the 2024 Lagos Studies Association conference.