Why we launched Memunat Single Mother and Child Initiative- Idulah

WITH rise in cases of divorce in the country including rape and other social vices against women, Memunat Idulah, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, CEO, of a nonprofit making organization, Memunat Single Mother and Child Initiative, MSMCI, Thursday, explained reasons for launching the Initiative, targeted at intervening in the issues affecting single mothers and children, and to curb rising trend of single parent in the society.

Speaking during the unveiling of the Non-Governmental Organisation in Abuja, Idulah said it became imperative and out of concern to come up with the Initiative to tackle the menace of single motherhood and issue affecting children.

According to her, many single mothers had been tagged with unprintable names and stigmatized coupled with different mental challenges.

Meanwhile, she disclosed some activities that the NGO will be embarking on which include sensitisation campaign against unplanned pregnancy, rape, child marriages, prevention of single motherhood in rural areas of the country.

She solicited for support, synergy and partnership with relevant stakeholders for effective penetration of her organization’s activities, especially, now that the unveiling has taken place.

She said: “I see that there are so many women that are single mothers who have been stigmatised. People do not know what they are going through instead of supporting them they are busy stigmatising them and making fun.

“Funning enough, any woman can become a single mother any day, and then the children are also suffering from that stigmatisation. So, I think it is time for us to speak about it. If you want a good society, you want good citizens, and we must talk about it because some countries are doing it.

We have to see how we can get there, let parents know when a girl makes mistake and has a child outside wedlock. They should not disown such a girl. They should hold that girl and take care of her child; and that way, she can go back to school or learn a trade. That way, she can even support that child and that child will be reasonable.

“But when you throw her away, you disown her and she has problem and even the child she gave birth to she is also disowned by implication.”

She also recalled on March 24, 1984, late President of the United States of America, Ronald Reagan, declared that day ‘Single Parenthood Day’ to create awareness on the importance of parenthood on children.

“I must tell you that as way back as 1984, President Ronald Reagan of America declared March 24 as Single Parenthood Day because they know the importance of parenthood on children. So, it is time for Nigerians too to start talking about it, to help them to refocus their lives instead of stigmatising them, this is because when you stigmatise them, you are not helping the society”, she said.

In a remark, the Secretary General, Nigerian National Commission for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO, Olagunju Idowu, commended the Initiative and said such NGOs are needed to shapen the society and make everyone have sense of belonging.

“UNESCO is always promoting peace that is basis of UNESCO’s work and with this now addressing single mother and children. These are most vulnerable in all situations. Nobody wants to listens to them. The women who have one issue or the other stays alone nobody want to listen to them and as such they are stigmatised and they need support. Some of them have been battered and dehumanised.

“They also need to have some psycho-social support. We believe through UNESCO with the collaboration this organization that is coming up today we can be able to do something together.”

Meanwhile, in a goodwill message, Chairperson of the unveiling ceremony, former First Lady of Kogi State, Hajia Halimat Wada, commended the Founder and CEO, Memunat Single Mother and Child Initiative, MSMCI, for concern about the plight of single mothers and children.

Wada said with this unveiling of MSMCI there is hope for vulnerable women expressed hope that the unveiling of the NGO was apt and would address enormous problems facing single mothers and children in the society.

She added that with MSMCI will serve as a platform of hope and succour for traumatized single mothers and abandoned children across the country.

“This project is timely. We need organisation like this because so far there are a lot of problems in the society.

“And if we leave it to informal family setup to handle alone, we might not get it and problem can be enormous.

“So, with this kind of organisation and initiative, there is hope that somebody is organising something somewhere.

“And single mothers will have a place to run to when there are issues instead of just crying on the shoulders of their parents and family”, she said.

However, she blamed woos on single motherhood on increasing absentee fathers, “You find that the problem can be overwhelming. They have issue financially and they may not be able to manage at time, issue of upbringing of children and emotional issues.

“I think we need such of organization to come to bring about succor”, she said.