• After losing her husband to high blood pressure, a widow struggles to cater to five unemployed graduate children, while seeking funds to offset her late husband’s accumulated debts
From Wilson Okereke, Afikpo
A 52-year-old petty trader, Mrs Josephine Chinyere Joseph who lost her husband recently, is passing through hard times with her five children.
It was gathered that her husband passed on after he and the wife had jointly trained their five children in different higher institutions.
Her major problem now, she stated, is getting jobs for her five graduate children.
Her late husband was the late Mr. Joseph Oduna Ngwu, an indigene of Ugwu Odida Onicha, Onicha Igboeze Community in Onicha LGA of Ebonyi State. Until his demise, the family resided at 30 Araromi Street, off High School Road in Akure, Ondo State.
While speaking about her plight, Mrs Joseph said she got married to her late husband at the age 19 in 1990.
She said before the union, Late Mr. Ngwu was moderately comfortable in his foodstuff business involving wholesales of rice and beans at Oritagun Street in Akure. She noted that he was doing relatively well in the business until he encountered several armed robbery attacks during which he lost his capital and had to depend on borrowing to sustain his trade.
She disclosed that the series of misfortunes he experienced did not deter both of them from sponsoring their children in various institutions of higher learning. Her third daughter, Angela Onyedikachukwu Joseph, she recalled, obtained her BSc in History and International Studies in 2015 at Ibrahim Babangida University, Lapai Niger State. That, she said, was followed by the graduation ceremony of others, including Mrs Destiny Ugonna Joseph in Marketing at Federal Polytechnic, Nekede, Imo State in 2016, and Grace Chinatu Joseph with BSc in Sociology and Anthropology at Ibrahim Babangida University, Lapai, Niger State in 2016.
Mrs. Joseph also added that before the demise of her husband on Thursday September 22, 2022, she and her husband had produced two other graduates – Mr. Lucky Chukwunonso Joseph, who got a BSc in Business Management from the Ebonyi State University (EBSU) in 2017, and Dorcas Odinakachukwu Joseph who also read Project Management Technology at Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO) in 2019.
The woman, whose highest qualification is an SSCE, told the reporter that her late husband did not complete his primary education due to hardship and the early death of his parents. She stated, however, that in spite of all odds, they became committed to the educational pursuits of their children to make up for the parents’ own limited education.
“If poor persons like my late husband and I could forfeit our comfort and starve ourselves to train our children to such level of education, and still they have not secured any reasonable job after the completion of their studies, it is a painful experience.
“Such situation where the parents could not feel relieved financially after training their children may likely discourage some parents from training theirs in higher institutions,” she said.
She added that her late husband had fallen victim of armed robbery attacks in 1993, and on two other occasions during separate business trips to Abakaliki and other places. That was the situation that caused the man to lose his business capital and other funds that he borrowed from his business partners then.
“During that period, these modern means of transactions involving POS and quick transfers were not obtainable and the only means left for such petty traders like him was to be carrying bulk money about. That was why he was dispossessed of his capital in separate attacks by the rogues who then landed him into bankruptcy” she said.
She described the action of one of the man’s former apprentices (name withheld) as the straw that broke the camel’s back, owing to the fact that the person allegedly ran away with another bulk money after her husband had recovered to some extent from the past attacks.
She also said that her family was already experiencing serious hardship as a result of the mentioned factors before her children could complete their nursery and primary education.
“Based on our determination to train our children, my late husband and I resorted to obtaining loans in microfinance banks which we did pay back within six months and with the money, my spouse was travelling to the remote parts of Ondo State where he was buying some soup ingredients like ogbono, while I have been dealing in interior decoration materials like curtains and fairly used beddings,” she added.
Mrs. Joseph further stated that her husband’s health problem, which was mainly high blood pressure and heart failure, started in February, 2022 after someone whom he supplied goods to reportedly ran away with the wares and his money. He later died on Thursday September 22 of that year.
“After the sudden disappearance of my husband’s supposed customer, he became worried both on how to pay the bank and other business associates. He was also worried about the condition of his children who have not been established.
“And before we could know it, the man fell sick and from that point, we began to carry him from one hospital to another as well as to and herbal homes, but all to no avail. He died seven months later,” she explained.
The widow further added that she is currently paying the debt of N 1,380,000 owed by her late spouse. She is appealing for financial assistance to enable her settle the creditors who have been taking her from one police station to another over the money.
“One of my late husband’s creditors has taken me to ‘A’ Division, Oba Adesida Road in Akure four months after the burial over his unpaid N1.2 million, but through the intervention of some persons, I was released on bail with the agreement that I would be paying N20,000 monthly,” she narrated.
She further revealed that the other creditors are still pestering her over their money, especially since they felt that her grown children would have offset the debts. She lamented that her late husband’s creditors do not know that her children are also battling in their respective ways to make ends meet due to lack of jobs.
The woman appealed to officials of the Ebonyi State government and good spirited individuals to come to her aid by providing her children with jobs and pay her inherited debts.
It was gathered that the woman is still training her 14-year-old last child, Victoria Izunna Joseph in secondary schools.
Sunday November 5 was the first anniversary of the burial of the deceased. On that day, the widow visited her home and performed the last traditional part of the funeral by removing her mourning clothes and had her hair cut in accordance with the people’ s tradition, which indicated total separation from the deceased husband.
But Mrs Joseph and her family need help. Her five unemployed graduate children also need help. Those wishing to help the family may reach them on 08068702201 and 09063736595.