A coalition of Civil Society Organisations has appealed to President Bola Tinubu, to as a matter of urgency, sign the bill of ‘Older Persons (Rights and Privileges)’.
Some of the leaders of the CSOs made the appeal on Thursday in Abuja at a workshop tagged: “Growth Clinic Workshop” organised by Voice Elderly Community of Practice.
Mrs Agatha Nnaji, the Executive Director of Dew Drop Foundation, said that currently, there are a lot of challenges the elderly ones are facing in Nigeria and that signing of the bill would ensure social protection of the elderly persons.
She stated that at present, the elderly had no policy in place to make sure that they were well taken care of, adding that signing the bill for their protection would be better for humanity.
Nnaji further said that signing the bill would assist in taking care of the health of the elderly, and enable them enjoy other privileges as it was being practiced in other developed countries.
According to her, some elderly people are quickly discharged from hospital beds just to create bed space for younger persons, an idea she says doesn’t show unity and respect.
“Signing this bill will make the elderly people feel at home and enjoy the facilities that they would have enjoyed if they were in abroad.
“There has to be a way to ensure that the elderly people feel valued, they are not discriminated against; there should be a system in place that will make them get their pension easily.
“There should be a system where the elderly people can call back on the police or some kind of vigilante group that will be in charge of supporting them in times of danger.
“Healthcare, transportation and other social benefits should be made available for them. We need to take care of them because all of us will get old and want to be happy.
“Ageing is a blessing,” she emphasised.
Sen. Eze Ajoku, President, Coalition of Societies for the Right of Older Person’s in Nigeria (COSROPIN), noted that a lot of progress had been made in the last six years to ensure the recognition of older people in Nigeria.
He said that part of the progress made was the inauguration of Board of Senior Citizen Centre ,which is an agency dedicated to older persons.
Ajoku called for mandatory health insurance for the older people, as well as the signing of bill of right of the older person, which he said, had already pass through the Senate and House of Representatives.
“The problem we have in this country is that policy makers have forgotten that they will age. Former President Buhari was advised by some people not to sign this bill and this is a very bad one.
“I am an older person, there is nothing I can point today in this country as my right as an older person. I do not have right to first service, I do not have any special right or incentive no social protection.
“So, you find out that a lot still needs to be done in this country like other developed countries.
“In our advocacy work as a civil society, we are doing the best we can as a non-funding organisation.
“We will continue to push as a CSO for the rights of older persons, to have a bill that protects them from stereotyping, discrimination and all source of things.
“You can’t retire a man who has worked for government at 60, and you withdraw his rights,” he stressed.
Mr Sedrick Owuro, Making, Learning and Amplifier Officer for the Voice Programme, also joined in calling for the signing of the bill of older persons rights by President Tinubu.
He said that the voice programme was an innovative brand facility funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Netherland and implemented by Consortium of Orphan and E-voice and the western part of Africa.
“Voice, as the name of the programme sounds, is to give voice to the most marginalised persons in the society.
“So, we support the elderly, persons with disability, women in abuse and violence and we support indigents.
“My perspective for the protection of the elderly in Nigeria compared to what we have in the developed world, is actually a work in progress.
“For a nation to work, it needs to have laws that are enacted to protect its citizens.
“The new administration of President Tinubu is already hitting the ground running, it will be good if they sign the bill of ‘Older Persons (Rights and Privileges),” he said.
