Governor of Bayelsa State, Seriake Dickson, has carved a niche for himself as a Gender Advocate and stands in loco parentis for women and the girl-child, ensuring, with passion unencumbered by the circumstances, of his office, that their over all interests are catered for. Surely, this Governor does more than hosting beauty pageants and absorbing beauty queens into his cabinet. He walks the gender talk!
While launching a Women Development Centre earlier this year, the governor did not mince words as he threw encomiums to Bayelsa women, and before a mammoth crowd that mostly comprised of women, delivered a soulful prayer for women of the state whom he described as ‘bearers of burdens of our fathers, great husband women and fever-pitch hard workers.’
Now, one would have expected a rumble in the crowd, but no, even the men rendered an applause for the women for the truth was so bare-chested!
The governor also made an announcement that would become for Gender Experts and statisticians a working benchmark: that 90 percent of Bayelsa women are bread-winners. Since that comment went out, Bayelsa has become the hub of Gender-focused, women-centred empowerment activities with various NGOs, CBOs and FBOs out doing one another to get the attention of the Mamas of Bayelsa State!
One community-based organization (CBO) even named itself Nene Bayelsa, Nene being a Niger Delta word for ‘mother’ and has been all over the swampy terrains carrying out one empowerment programme or the other that has seen many Bayelsa women getting all the training they needed in various areas of skill acquisition.
The faith-Based Organizations (FBOs) are also not left out as several churches and Islamic groups have also taken the bull by the horn to organize workshops that seek to enlighten as well as empower the women of the area, this is even as banks and other financial institutions have began to indicate their intention to launch a series of micro-credit facilities for women at low interest rates.
Beyond the statutory enhancements for the average Bayelsa woman is the glaring need to protect the Bayelsa widow, and the Governor has again scored another point as he recently commissioned the widow and widowers (Widowers for need of gender equity) Protection Bill 2015 at the Government House, Yenagoa.
The Bill sponsored by Hon. Agatha Goma, represnting Ekeremor I Constituency, had earlier enjoyed a smooth passage by the State House of Assembly and has been acclaimed as the bill that would break the back of opportunists and usurpers who bestride the homes of Bayelsa State.
According to the governor: “We need to protect women, more particularly women who find themselves in unfortunate circumstances; this is because we all know that sometimes our cultural practices are not friendly to widows who have lost husbands and breadwinners.”
He stated that the bill has stepped in to offer some protection and that government would ensure that such protection is unhampered and sustained, calling on the state legislature to take urgent steps in considering and also passing the child Rights Bill before the end of the  Fourth Legislative Assembly for his executive assent.
The governor also urged the ministries of justice and Women Affairs to enlighten the public on the provisions of the new law and lauded the lawmakers for their dedication to legislative business. In his response, speaker of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly, Konbowei Benson, said the bill was forwarded to the House on July 8, 2014 and was passed on May 5, 2015.
What then are the provisions of the Widow and Widowers Protection Law? It prohibits the forceful marriage of the spouse of a deceased person to a relation in the state. Gender Analysts have critically viewed the clause ‘in the state’ as meaning that marriage of such nature contracted outside the state between a Bayelsa widow or widower and a relative of a deceased spouse may not be subject to the law, which may amount to ‘external ordeals’ for those who the law seeks to protect and a relief for mischief makers. The clause should be looked into, it has been suggested.
Henceforth in Bayelsa State, marriage to a relation of a deceased spouse against the individual’s will (the widow or widower’s), and compelling a widow or widower to do any of the several acts contained in the law would be considered unlawful, the governor has said.
Harmful traditions and cultural practices have been fingered as culprits, and women have been labeled ‘the vulnerable group? How vulnerable can these women really be?
The oil rich Bayelsa State boasts of women who have taken over the creeks extending to Rivers and other oil rich communities, engaged in all manner of trades, including oil bunkering and textiles, or simply trading in the bare necessities with sailors. For the men, illiteracy, lack of skill or business interest render them redundant and they mostly rely on their wives for family support and personal needs. When these men die, their direct or distant male relatives are fast to ‘inherit’ the widows for the sake of ‘continuity’! Even when the hard-working women dies, the deceased woman’s female relative foists herself on the widower to ensure the dead sister’s toils continued to resonate in the family
You see why the law is for both widow and widower? Sure, but women are more vulnerable and this law, to say the least, is very capable!

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