As Nigeria joins the rest of the world to celebrate the United Nations Day of Older Persons, the Federal Government is currently working on a National Policy on Aging that is expected to drive the mainstreaming of issues of older persons in the country.

Disclosing this at a media briefing recently in Abuja as part of activities lined up to celebrate the Day in Nigeria, Nigeria's Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajiya Zainab Maina said work on the Policy has reached an advanced stage.

The Minister who made a case for the country's older citizens to be granted access to efficient health care services, safe living environment, the right to retirement and the right to custody and company of their children and grand children, lamented that the world is now facing the challenges arising from a rapidly growing and diverse ageing population which currently stands at well over 606 million.

According to her, the growing number of older persons all over the world which is projected to hit 2 billion in the next 50 years would pose great challenges to Africa as a whole and Nigeria as a country, the implication being that the continent's older population, aged 60 years and above, will increase six fold in five decades.

She warned that, “Today, one in every ten people is 60 years and older. By 2050, one out of every five people will be an older person. And by 2150 one third of the people in the world are expected to be 60 years of age or older”.

Hajiya Maina said that the Federal Government's immediate focus would be on policy issues and legislation that would guarantee the provision of specialized services and protection for older persons in the society.
“Older persons as a social category have special needs, socio-economic and health challenges requiring specialized attention and treatment. They are the vulnerable in the society and worst hit in the face of any major disaster, natural or man-made.

“In this year's celebration the Ministry will engage more elitist Older Persons that would contribute more resourcefully to the concrete policies, plans and legislation that would chart a new course for Older persons in Nigeria”, Hajiya Maina stated.

She therefore said that her Ministry would be embarking on intensive sensitization of both the media and the public on the need to provide adequate care and protection for the country's senior citizens.

Earlier in her remarks, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Mrs. Elizabeth Emuren urged all stakeholders to rise up to the challenges of creating a society that will guarantee improvement in the living conditions of vulnerable Nigerians.

The Permanent Secretary further enjoined Nigerians to see the Day as another opportunity to adequately care for the country's esteemed Older Citizens, to protect and honour them for their past contributions to the development, growth and survival of the society.