By Joyce Remi-Babayeju
Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Prince Clem Agba has said that the Federal Government is determined to continue to support older persons in Nigeria to ensure their rights are not compromised.
Agba made this disclosure when he received a delegation from the United Nations Independent Experts on enjoyment of human rights by older persons, recently, in Abuja.
Agba who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Olushola Idowu, explained that taking care of older persons is crucial and the Federal Government has established paraNational Senior Citizens Centre under the Ministry of Humanitarian affairs, Disaster management whose mandate is to address the situation of older persons in the country.
The minister also said that there are policy measures that address the situation of older persons in the revised National Social Protection Policy, adding that the rights of older persons across the country mainstreamed in the National Development Plan.
Head of the United Nations’ Independent Expert on the Enjoyment of Human Rights by Older Persons, Office of the UN High Commissioner of Human Right (UNCHR), Dr Claudia Mahler, observed that older persons did not enjoy all human rights because so many things hindered them from doing so.
Mahler however noted that the purpose of their visit to Nigeria was to raise awareness that older persons were left behind because they were neither seen nor visible in the data.
She said that the United Nation is willing to collaborate with Nigeria to further improve the situation for older persons in Nigeria in the areas of better nutrition and social protection for older persons as they contributed to the workforce.
The Statistician General, National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Prince Adeyemi Adeniran, said the NBS had always made conscious efforts by keeping and releasing data of the elderly in the country .
NBS also has data of the elderly persons who own household enterprises and are still actively contributing to the economy, Adeniran disclosed.
