Policies
By Justina Auta
Abuja, June 24, 2019 (NAN) Dave Omokaro Africa Institute on Ageing and Development (DOFRIAD), an NGO, has called on the Federal Government to create a legal framework that would address the plight of older people in the society.
Its Executive Director, Dr. Emem Omokaro, made the call in Abuja during the institute’s first public lecture and five-day international training programme in Gerontology and Geriatrics.
Omokaro spoke of the urgent need for social development programmes and policies that would cater for the needs of aged persons in the society.
“It is a blessing to grow old; nobody wants to die young. It is a celebration but at the same time it has its challenges.
“Government needs to look at aging as a development issue and mainstream the challenges associated with it into developmental policy programmes and frameworks, and then attack it.
Omokaro stressed the need for the government to ensure that aged persons were given priority and their human rights addressed, rather than neglected as had been the case in the past.
“ There is high tendency to ignore older persons because you feel they have already played their own roles.
“ But when you look at their rights as human beings, their growing old do not mean that they are not human being.
“Growing old does not mean we no longer have value. Take away the older persons from the family – the grandfather or grandmother – then you begin to understand their value and place,’’ she said.’
She decried the state of poverty and neglect meted on the aged, especially those who had worked in the informal sector without having any contributory pension.
“Most of the old persons have continued to take care of their children even after the children’s graduation; so you see the burden on older persons.
“Majority of them were in the informal sector; so they did not have any opportunity to contribute to any pension scheme.
“Now that they are old, tired and sick, they don’t have health insurance because there is no customised insurance services to take care of older people; neither is there any palliative care or income security for them,’’ she said.
She, therefore, said that the five-day training programme would provide a platform for stakeholders from different organisations representing various sectors to fashion out ways to address the challenges.
“This year’s training on gerontology and geriatrics is mainly for participants from the health sector, doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, psychologists, and pharmacists because they are already trained and have become expert.
“But most of them do not know about the challenges of aging because it is an emerging issue.
“So we build and enhance capacity in that regard and we promote inter-sectoral, multi-disciplinary, and inter-disciplinary partnership among them.
“ The policy framework has to come from the government; without a policy you cannot have an action plan and regulatory agencies.
“The government should provide the framework, set the stage, and look at the constitution to see what it says about human rights, care, and equity?
“That is what we need – for the government to give us the policy framework, the legal framework, strategic implementation plan, so that everybody goes to work,” she added.
Speaking on the sideline of the event, Dr. Adeniyi Okunade, 82-year-old Deputy General-Secretary of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners, urged government to establish an old people’s home, where they would receive constant free medical care and pension. (NAN)
JAD/DE/YEE
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(Edited by Dorcas Jonah/Emmanuel Yashim)