The Broadcasting Corporation of Oyo State (BCOS) in collaboration with a philanthropic media proprietor, Oloye Adegboyega Adegoke, on Sunday, empowered over 140 widows in Oyo state.
The selected widows received food items and cash gifts during the 2025 annual BCOS Sallah get together empowerment programme in Ibadan.
The Chairperson of BCOS, Chief Mrs Dotun Olaitan, said the station refocused its annual get together party from usual wining and dining to empowerment programme to meet the needs of vulnerable people in the society.
Olaitan encouraged the widows not to allow their present situation push them into depression, which could lead to poor health condition for them.
She lauded the sponsor of the event for his unwavering support for the less privileged in the society through various empowerment programmes.
Also, the Chairman of the 2025 BCOS Sallah get together committee, Alhaji Kola Carew, said the initiative was aimed at extending love to the widows, share joy of yuletide with them, and to alleviate their burdens.
Similarly, the Guest Lecturer of the event, Sheikh Habeeblahi Buhari, in his sermon titled: “Plight of Widows in Nigeria”, said widows were faced with many challenges ranging from loneliness to hunger.
Buhari charged the widows to rise above their current status by focusing on how their children would become notable people in future.
The sponsor of the empowerment, Are Egbe Omo Balogun of Ibadan land, Oloye Adegboyega Adegoke, in his remarks, said the motive of the empowerment programme was to give back to the society.
Adegboyega, who doubles as the Chairman of Solutions FM, Ibadan, noted that giving to the needy was one of the five pillars of Islam that must be followed.
“God blesses every individual because of people around us and does not expect such person to withhold the blessings as personal gains.
“Rich people should not be happy alone, we must make other people around us happy.
Widows especially are the most vulnerable because they are left to take care of children and themselves alone.
“Some of them also face challenges of school fees for the children, house rents and others,” he said.
He urged the beneficiaries to invest the money wisely into low risk business that would better their lives.
Receiving the cash and food items, Mrs Fatima Mufutau, lauded the gesture of the sponsor for his humanitarian service to the less privileged in the society.
“This is what is expected from the well-to-do people in the society; we give glory unto God and urged others to emulate his gesture,” she said.
A widow, Mrs Bode Kehinde, called on the three tiers of government to take a cue from what the sponsor was doing to alleviate the sufferings of the people.
“We thank God for what he is doing to widows that are hopeless; we pray for more blessings on his works,” Kehinde said.
