Navy Empowers Widows With Packages, Palliatives

The Nigerian Naval Ship (NNS-Delta) has defended its outreach programme for widows drawn from military, paramilitary and civilian communities in the Niger Delta region.

The beneficiaries received assorted empowerment packages and palliatives.

The programme held in Warri featured the presentation of food items, edibles and textile materials, wrappers and household materials notably bags of rice, garri, vegetable oil, among others, to the widows.

The commander, NNS-Delta, Commodore Shehu Mohammed Tasiu, during the outreach, said the programme was meant to support the widows of deceased military officers, security personnel and vulnerable civilians identified through community nominations across the state.

He said NNS is creating more avenues for direct engagement, dialogue, and fellowship which goal is to reduce their loneliness and to reassure every serving officer and rating that their families will not be forgotten.

“I salute your courage and perseverance. Your spouses did not merely pass away; they fell in the line of duty. Some fell in the creeks of the Niger Delta pursuing oil thieves, others in the Northeast fighting insurgency, some on highways maintaining internal security, and others after years of service in harsh conditions that broke their health.

“They were not perfect men, but they were patriots who answered when Nigeria called.

They left behind uniforms that will never be worn again, and a legacy of honour that time cannot erase. Too often, the spouses of fallen heroes become invisible after the burial. Sympathy fades, calls stop, and support narrows to what regulations allow”.

“Today there is no rank, no uniform, only our shared humanity and a common determination to move forward. You are here because your wards believed in us, and we are here because we believe in you. Your resilience inspires our service.

“The palliatives presented today are not given because we have excess, nor simply because you asked. They are given out of duty, guided by our shared values. Because of our proximity and because you are our guests, you are entitled to this gesture of neighborliness and care.”

Also addressing the gathering, the Delta State Commissioner for Women and Humanitarian Affairs, Princess Pat Ajudua, represented by Mrs Sally Ashinze Anyadike, said the programme demonstrated that pain, poverty and loss did not discriminate between social classes or professions.

Amid emotional scenes, several beneficiaries expressed appreciation to the Navy for remembering them at a time many said they had been neglected by society after the loss of their husbands.