Member representing Ibarapa Central and Ibarapa North Federal Constituency, Hon. (Dr.) Anthony Adebayo Adepoju, has announced the modality for the distribution of the resources for widows in the federal constituency whose data were collected between Monday, December 16 and Thursday, December 19, 2024.
The highly data-driven social benefit is personally being carried out by Hon. Adepoju in order to provide economic and social support to vulnerable women in the two local government areas comprising the constituency.
Approving the modality on Friday, March 7, 2025, Hon. Adepoju said that beneficiaries of the social benefit empowerment would be selected at random and will be done at the Abuja office.
According to the lawmaker, names of the beneficiaries will be posted two weeks prior to distribution to prevent chaos or stampede.
Disclosing the statistics of the widows as collated through the office of the Special Adviser on Women Affairs to Hon. Adepoju across the constituency in December 2024, 1,285 widows were captured in Igboora and 359 widows in Idere, totalling 1,644 widows in Ibarapa Central, while 369 widows in Ayete, 400 in Tapa and 490 in Igangan, totalling 1,259 in Ibarapa North, bringing the total number of widows in the constituency to 2,903.
The lawmaker also announced that for the sake of fairness and equal town representation, 20% of the population of the registered widows in each community will be captured every month in the distribution of resources for a six-month rollover period.
Ibarapakan urged the registered widows to always check in advance for their name, date and time of collection, emphasising that there is no need to lobby anyone to expedite the process to favour any widow whose name has not been shortlisted yet for the social benefit.
“Only those whose names appear for that given period will be taken care of through the provision of a legal means of identification. Social benefits may vary monthly; they may be in the form of cash, food items, household items, etc.
“We kindly request that our widows remain orderly and patient as we work towards the safe fulfilment of this intervention. We call on well-meaning individuals and corporate organisations to join hands with us to help alleviate the difficult times being experienced by our widows,” he said.
The Deputy Chairman of the House Committee on Federal Character, however, expressed that open registration will commence towards the end of the year to update the register and data, promising that every registered widow would be taken care of within a six-month period before a rollover.
The lawmaker also asked the widows to make their complaint and suggestions, including those who cannot show up at the collection centres to call the underlisted number for home delivery at no cost to the recipient: Ibarapakan@gmail.com, +2349062022445/+2347011234506
