A group of the Nigerian elderly under the auspices of the Coalition of Societies for the Rights of Older Persons in Nigeria (COSROPIN) has raised alarm that some state governors issued dud cheque to pensioners, thereby denying them of their meager entitlements.
President of the coalition, Senator Darlington Eze Ajoku, said this Friday in Abuja, during the presentation of the communique of the one-day National Conference on Ageing held in Abuja in December.
According to him, many state governments owed pensioners years of backlog of arrears worsening the plights of the over seven million elderly in the country, who after 60 years were also delisted from the NHIS and left with no proper healthcare.
“The present crop of leaders should begin to act now for the future by getting something done for the elderly as they too would later join the league. It is regrettable that while many state governments don’t pay the elderly their pensions with several months as backlog, some even issues dud cheque, which the pensioners cannot cash,” Ajoku said.
He listed parts of the resolutions of the conference as advocating a legal framework to backup efforts in the advocacy for the care of older persons/elderly and the next National Assembly to re-introduce the “Bill for an Act to Provide For Certain Rights and Privileges of Older Persons”.
He said the bill was submitted to the Senate President by COSROPIN on 28 February, 2018, in order to put in place appropriate legal infrastructure guaranteeing protection and relief for the Nigerian elderly.
“We called on governments at all levels to consider the establishment of a Commission for the Ageing and Elderly Persons, with a view to providing an environment which encourages and promote active living for all the aged groups thus fostering social capital and a sense of community living,” Ajoku said.
Also, the Secretary of the association, Dame May Ikokwu, said families were able to cater for their elderly in the past and that, it difficult now that families are scattered and even getting wider apart.
She said, “The preset parents cannot even cater for their children let alone cater for their parents. As many lived away from their aged parents, sending monies is not even enough, thus the importance of a legal institution that would cater for the elderly.
