ABOUT WIDOW SUPPORT CENTRE
(PAT UTOMI WIDOW SUPPORT CENTRE)
The Pat Utomi Widow Support Centre operating under the trade name Widow Support Centre (WSC) was initiated in 1992 by Prof Pat Utomi through the PAT UTOMI TRUST FOR HUMANE CO-EXISTENCE to add value to the lives of widows and their children and also to help them overcome the burden and challenges they face due to the demise of their husbands. The centre also play advocacy role in addressing some social injustices against widows through citizen education programmes, challenging specific cases of injustices in the law courts and seeking legislative agenda that can result in a system that is more sensitive to the plight of the widows. The Widow Support Centre currently has most of its activities in Lagos and Delta State Area with the intention to expand to other parts of the country. Until recently the activities of WSC was coordinated by Centre for Values in Leadership until recently when it was registered as a separate entity.
THE BEGINNING
The idea of the CVL Widow support Centre was birthed by three remarkable events. First one was in 1983, when our founder, Prof. Pat Utomi wrote an article of the Plight of Widows in Nigeria. The second one was a project in Kaduna with Bishop Kukah, where funds were sent to widows of the parish for empowerment. The third and most remarkable was after an accident 1991 in which the driver conveying Prof. Utomi died and he was thought dead but survived. It then occurred to him, that what he had witnessed in a situation where a family friend who lost their benefactor went from a 5 bedroom house to being homeless should not happen to any widow. The fear of leaving his family in that kind of situation added more fire to his conviction that no family should go through the plight that Widows go through at the loss of their benefactor.
And so WSC was birthed after a presentation at an event where a Ghanaian Doctor, offered to run the Centre.
Over the years, we have had a deluge of Partners who have helped to pursue our cause, from Engr. Olajide who trained over a 100 widows and their children, to Gbenga Oyebode who advocated and appeared in court for our widows, to Mrs. Soremu providing loans to women and Patricia Okoye who wrote her thesis on widowhood practices in this part of the world
MISSION
To build a network of contented widows through social welfare, mindset re-orientation, Income generation and Advocacy.
VISION
A World of Empowered Widows with Dignity.