Only four per cent of older persons in Nigeria have access to formal pension coverage. Meanwhile, state governments have been urged to domesticate the National Senior Citizens Act to protect the welfare of the elderly.
Former Director-General of the National Senior Citizens Centre (NSCC), Dr. Emem Omokaro, who made the call at the first anniversary of the Quarter Pass 65 podcast, and the launch of the first edition of the Quarter Pass 65 compendium in Abuja, emphasised the need to prioritise the issues affecting older persons in the country and their health, considering that they need support.
Omokaro stated that for a very long time, Nigeria had no sustainable policy for the elderly. She observed that the 2013 Global Age Watch Index, which used identifiable comparable data to rank countries on the well-being of their older persons, showed that out of 90 countries, Nigeria ranked 85th.
Omokaro noted that the index looked at the well-being of older persons in terms of income security, pension coverage, and poverty among the elderly.
She said, “Nigeria was 85th, Ghana was about 40-something. We were only competing with Afghanistan, the country that was at war, so you can imagine, and then later on in 2015, Nigeria went further than that, it became 86 out of 95”.
Omokaro stressed that the adoption of the Act by states is crucial to addressing the unique challenges faced by older Nigerians, especially in rural communities.
According to her, the state governments must be committed to streamlining and aligning with the Federal Government’s efforts in helping older people.
