About 300 widows in and around Lagos have benefitted from the Widows Support Programme organised by His Heavenly Light Ministry.  The beneficiaries received gifts ranging from food items and financial support to vocational training, accompanied by dancing and praises led by the church’s choir.
   
The General Overseer of the church, Rev. Cecilia Onitiri, emphasised the challenges of widowhood, stating her commitment to creating a support network for widows to assist each other. She encouraged the widows to participate in the church’s fellowship programme, which is aimed at fostering unity and mutual support.
   
“I am a pensioner. I used my money to organise the programme, and my children are also helping me. I plan to register to expand this initiative,” Rev. Onitiri said.  
   
She added that acquiring land for farming could further empower the widows. “The widows will benefit. It has to be a communal thing. We did not have money for everybody to do it alone. If one of the four people in the group fails to return the N35,000 given to empower them for another person to use, that group has failed.”
   
Onitiri expressed regret about a widow who passed away before receiving assistance. She stressed the importance of building a close-knit community among widows, saying, “You can come here and just go, but that is not what I want. I want you to know yourselves, have identical minds. Your children will get to know each other. Money is not everything; how you live means a lot.”
   
She also noted that the church is no longer using its savings scheme to assist widows, although those who still wish to save through the ministry can do so and receive their savings at the end of the year.

Pastor Chizomah Nwachukwu highlighted the need for determination and discipline in managing the empowerment funds. “Whatever your hands find to do, do it very well. Don’t be lackadaisical about it. The empowerment money is meant to add value to your lives.

Don’t use it carelessly or for frivolities,” she advised. She encouraged widows to establish businesses in areas such as frying groundnuts, selling bottled water, or dealing in foodstuffs.

Pastor Bello Anthony, an assistant pastor and the church’s Secretary and Personal Assistant to the General Overseer, disclosed that the programme also included medical empowerment.