The plights of widows and widowhood in Nigeria: Reflections on 2 Kings 4:1-7

Abstract

Losing one’s husband at any point in time (whether as a young or old woman) is not a thing of envy in Africa. The paper examines the plights of widows and the challenge of widowhood in Nigeria. It also highlights some of the social ills that are associated with widows in Nigeria. This is discussed within the framework of widowhood in the Old Testament with particular reference to the case of the widow of one of the sons of the prophets in 2 Kings 4:1-7. The paper adopts the intercultural hermeneutical method in achieving the aim of the paper. The study finds out that the plights of the widows in Nigeria range from poverty and economic deprivation to marginalisation and inhuman treatment in the husband’s family, in the church as well as in the society. The paper concluded that the widows themselves have major roles to play in addition to the efforts of the church and the society at large in ameliorating the plights of widows in Nigeria.

Keywords: Widowhood, Poverty, Marginalization, Social Deprivation, Nigeria