Providing Time for Nigerian Widows to Grieve and Rebuild

All stakeholders must do more to safeguard widows from social injustices

The 2026 International Widows Day (IWAD) falls today, urging key actors in Nigeria to confront the unique challenges that widows face, particularly as many women lose their spouses to various criminal groups. These challenges—poverty, cultural stigma, lack of inheritance rights, and others—have been highlighted by the United Nations, which has adopted the campaign message “Invisible Women, Invisible Problems.” As Nigerians join the global community in observing 2026 IWD, stakeholders must work to eliminate the barriers that prevent widows from living with dignity.

Access to justice and poverty together leave many widows in the country suffering in silence, stigma, and shame, and education does not seem to protect any woman. Across many communities, Ochiawunma Akwiwu‑Ibe, a United States‑based public‑health pediatrician with more than 20 years of experience, reports that Nigerian widows continue to endure ritual seclusion and isolation, forced mourning rites, public humiliation, property dispossession, emotional and psychological abuse, and coercive rituals that seek to prove they were not responsible for their husbands’ deaths. “The details vary. The outcome is the same,” Akwiwu‑Ibe said. “Women who are already grieving are made to suffer even more.”

The Violence Against Persons Act (VAPP), signed into law in 2015 by President Goodluck Jonathan, includes provisions addressing the plight of widows. Section 15 of the law states that any person who subjects a widow to harmful traditional practices commits an offence and, if convicted, may face up to two years’ imprisonment, a fine not exceeding N500,000, or both. The law also criminalises attempts to subject widows to such harmful practices. A few states have enacted additional legislation to support widows’ rights, but most of these laws are not fully observed. From being forced to undergo barbaric ritual practices to having joint property disposed of by greedy in‑laws or losing their inheritance if they remarry, the patriarchal nature of society makes life difficult for widows.

The International Widows Day was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 2010 to address the social injustices faced by millions of widows worldwide and to promote their rights. To protect Nigerian widows from denial of property rights, forced marriage, and other practices that undermine their dignity and wellbeing, some members of the National Assembly have proposed amendments to the VAPP Act of 2015 to add further provisions.

In many Nigerian communities today, widowhood is associated with trauma and isolation. According to Dr. Eleanor Nwadinobi, founder of the Widows Development Organisation (WIDO), customary laws and cultural norms that affect widows include harmful traditional practices such as forced shaving of the hair, varying periods of confinement, and stigmatizing dress codes. The organization also notes an increasing number of wives of the disappeared in conflict contexts, for whom there is no closure. Beyond socio‑cultural factors, there is concern that commercial banks in the country conspire to deny widows access to the money left by their husbands.

While we encourage Nigerians to adopt the practice of having a will in case of sudden unexpected death, it is unfortunate that many banks still impose stringent conditions for widows to access their husbands’ accounts, even when they are designated as next‑of‑kins. We hope the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will intervene on this vexatious matter. We also call on authorities at all levels and civil‑society members to defend widows in Nigeria.