NHRC to give priority to elderly person's rights protection to curb abuses
Executive Secretary of the NHRC, Chief Tony Ojukwu
From Cyril Mbah, Abuja.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has promised to increase attention and monitoring processes nationwide on measures to protect the rights of elderly persons to curb the growing rate of abuse and violence against old people in the country.
Executive Secretary of the commission, Chief Tony Ojukwu, who made the call in Abuja during the celebration of the 2023 United Nation's International Day of Elderly Persons, condemned the increasing rate of discrimination, injustice and the abuse of the elderly by insensitive persons especially people within the younger generation.
Chief Ojukwu, who was represented at the event by a director of the commission, Barrister Yemisi Akhile, said it will no longer be acceptable for elderly persons to be abused, isolated, neglected, stigmatized or abandoned without proper care by family members.
He said the NHRC will continue to hold governments and individuals accountable for their actions and will insist on proper respect, protection and promotion of the rights of elder citizens in the country.
The President of the Coalition of Societies for the Rights of Older Persons (COSROPIN), Senator (Dr.) Eze Ajoku, while delivering his welcome address, regretted that the Older Persons Rights and Privileges Bill passed by both chambers of the National Assembly and forwarded to former President Muhammadu Buhari was treated with ignominy and it did not get the approval of the former president until his exit from office.
Senator Ajoku vowed that COSROPIN, which is the umbrella body of more than 154 civil society groups fighting for the recognition of the rights and privileges of elderly persons in Nigeria, will not rest or give up the struggle until a proper legal framework that protects the rights of the elderly becomes a reality.
This has become necessary, he said, to properly insulate elderly persons from the excesses of persons who abuse them physically. mentally and psychologically, apart from the financial exploitation that some of them suffer in the hands of relatives.
He called for the establishment of workable social welfare packages for the elderly that should include the right to obtain loans from lending institutions, appropriate health insurance schemes, the elimination of taxation of elder persons and the redesign of buildings, air, road and rail transport systems to make them more user friendly for the elderly.
Representatives of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Legal Aid Council of Nigeria, National Council of Women Societies, Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) and the Women Affairs Ministry, among others graced the occasion and expressed support and solidarity for the protection of the rights and privileges of elderly persons.
The high-point of the ceremony was the award and automatic registration by the President of COSROPIN, Sen. Ajoku of 20 elderly persons from Mabushi community of Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) into the National Health Insurance Scheme for life as part of the group's contribution to the health of the elders.
Sen. Ajoku urged well meaning Nigerians to devote part of their wealth for the care and welfare of elderly persons pointing out that old age was not a curse but a blessing to the nation as old people are a rich bank of wisdom which can be tapped for development.