Old age, as with birth and death, is a natural phenomenon. It is a sure passage that we all must go through. A time when one’s vitality gets watered down, energy is sapped, but knowledge of life expands.
Old age is seen as a blessing, synonymous with a life well-lived. It is also a time of vulnerability.
Special Correspondent, Charles Ihejirika, reports on the neglect of the oldies in our midst, spiced with the cheery bit of a philanthropist searching for a location to build a home for some of them.
Sweden, Norway, Germany, and the United States are rated the best in the world for old citizens in a ranking by United Nations’ Global AgeWatch Index.
These countries have put in place certain parameters to ensure that old citizens are comfortable and adequately taken care of.
In the same report, Nigeria, Honduras, Rwanda, Pakistan, Tanzania, and Afghanistan are rated among the worst for old people.
Apart from these countries being developing countries, they are beset by ills such as terrorism, tribal clashes, poverty; making it difficult for them to be havens for the aged.
Nigeria and its retirees
A worker in a new generation bank who sought anonymity gave an insight into why Nigeria treats its old citizens with disdain.
“In Nigeria, people hardly care,” she said. “Most people, especially the young, have so many issues that have made them less inhumane.
“They are so concerned with themselves that every other person is seen as unimportant. Though that is not enough reason, I think it still counts as a reason.
“Take pension for example. How can people who have given their all in their youth be treated like mere beggars?
“Doesn’t the Bible say a labourer deserves his wages? The Nigerian environment is harsh to its old citizens.”
There are stories of old pensioners, some critically ill, who lie at the gates of pension offices crying for the rewards of their sweat. Most of these stories, pathetic as they may sound, are a regular fixture.
Emmanuel Nwokocha, a civil servant, said: “It is bad, very bad, how the old people are being treated. People quickly forget that we will all grow old. They forget that old age is bound to happen to us all.
“The way we treat our old citizens says a thing or two about how we will be treated when we get old.
“It is as if once you get old, you are immediately discarded and forgotten. I myself have been wondering about how my retirement will be, and I have been making plans. Nigeria is unpredictable to old age.”
Any succour?
Tokunbo Babs-Olurinde, a broadcaster at Radio Lagos, runs a project for the old called Skindudu Aged Foundation.
She started the project in 2009 and has kept the fire burning.
“I was inspired when I went abroad,” she explained.
“I saw the way they were taking care of the elders; the government was really paying attention to them. In America, in London, they have a special home for them, they give them whatever they want.
“But here in Nigeria, people hardly talk about the aged; people hardly talk about the elders.”
The concern and love for the elderly and vulnerable propels her even though she is yet to get a permanent location for the foundation.
“I have been able to push it up to six years now; this year is going to be the sixth year. I am just setting up my home. I am just building the foundation.
“What I do every year is gather them from local governments. Most churches have this elders’ society and all that.
“I gather up to 200. I celebrate them by giving them materials. Then I go to pharmacists. I have some supporters, sponsors, who support me.
“It is just a day thing. They come together and we celebrate them and run check-ups on their blood pressure, eyesight, and give out eye glasses and all that.
“I am just trying to set up my home somewhere around Gbagada (in Lagos). By then we will be able to get them settled in the home.”
A crusader inspired from abroad
Babs-Olurinde said the response she has got since she started is people being eager for the foundation to take care of their parents.
“People really like the idea, because it is new (in Nigeria). When I started, nobody was doing it.
“Politicians are even doing it now for the elders, giving them money. But these politicians are doing it to campaign, which is not really what we need.
“We need reality. We need people who could really come together and care for the aged.”
She also gave reasons why people who are too busy should let old peoples’ homes care for their parents.
“When you bring them [old parents] from your village and come and drop them at home, you are getting them closer to their grave than you think.
“Maybe [because] you are trying to make them feel better, you bring them to the city, but it doesn’t help them because you are gone [to work], your wife is gone to work, and the children are in the school; so, you leave the grandma or grandpa in the house.
“Boredom is not the best for elders. We make sure these things don’t happen; we go from home to home of those in our care.
“If they are on drugs, we make sure they take their drugs regularly. We go from home to home to check on them since we don’t really have a home.”
Would you allow your parents to be cared for in old peoples’ home?
“Yes, I would,” said Henry Oduah, a National Youth Corps Service (NYSC) member serving in Gombe State.
“It is safer to take my parents there if I am a very, very busy person. There I can demand adequate care for them because I pay for it.
“In other words, they won’t need a house help who could possibly maltreat them when I’m away.”
But for Socrates Mbamalu, an NYSC member serving in Anambra State, it is not an option at all. He insisted that he would not touch an old peoples’ home even with a long pole.
The important thing to note, however, is that something urgent needs to be done to alleviate the condition of old citizens in this country.
