As the global community celebrates international day of older persons today, government has been urged to build a system where every person can look toward old age with security, respect, and hope.
The Director of a nongovernmental organisation, Save Our Elders Initiative SEI, Pastor Kelechi Mboru who stated this in an interview to mark the day, said that saving the elders would ensure those who have spent their lives building families and societies are not forgotten when they grow older.
She explains, ” Older people are associated with retirement, dependency, illness and decline. Such perceptions can lead to ageism, social exclusion, and the neglect of older people’s voices in decisions that directly affect them. Also, ageing is a natural part of the course of human life, and older adults are not a homogeneous group. Some remain economically active, others care for grandchildren or family members, while many contribute through volunteering, community leadership, mentoring, and the preservation of cultural knowledge.”
“Save Our Elders therefore calls for a shift from seeing older people merely as recipients of care to recognizing them as active members of society whose dignity and agency must remain central throughout later life. The growing population of older people should not be viewed as a burden but as a generation whose rights, experiences, knowledge, and contributions deserve protection and recognition” she said.
Mboru emphasises, “At the same time, those who wish and are able to continue working should have opportunities to do so without discrimination based on age. A society prepared for longevity is one that allows people to transition through different stages of work, retirement, caregiving, learning, and community participation with flexibility and dignity.
On this year’s theme of the Age of Longevity: Rethinking Systems for Longer Lives; Pastor Mboru emphasises economic security stating that longer lifespan can be a gift, but without adequate income, housing, and social protection, it could expose people to poverty and insecurity.
Save Our Elders Initiative”, therefore, is not just a call to protect an ageing population, but also, a call to commit to building systems that value every stage of life. If societies redesign healthcare, social protection, employment, technology, housing, and community life with longevity in mind, longer lives can become a collective achievement rather than a social challenge. Saving our elders means ensuring that those who have spent their lives building families, communities, and societies are not forgotten when they grow older—and that every person can look toward old age with security, respect, and hope.”
Also commenting on the observance, an eighty-five year old elderly in PortHarcourt, Mrs Oyidia Anya says that old age is a blessing calling on the society to treat elderly people with care and on government at all levels to provide them with monthly allowance especially the indigents.
According to Mrs Anya, many older persons are unhappy because of sickness and lack urging government to put them in their programmes.
Anya says, “Old age is a gift and God loves us. Atleast, put us in the agenda and give us some allowance to make us happy, especially those who do not have someone to take care of them. Most of them, the children have no money to take care of them, so they leave them, they remain under sickness all the time and are unhappy.
This year marks the 36th International Day of Older Persons by the United Nations.
