The circumstance that led to the death of my aunt and several other older relatives was an eye opener to me with regards to the kind of poor treatment being given to older persons in the Nigerian society. Nigerians are more willing to spend huge resources at death and burial ceremonies of older persons than in taking care of them while they are still alive. This was confirmed from the staggering results of the research I carried out on Older Persons Dependence on Family Members.

This lead to my advocacy to Care for the Elderly in my community and several other communities I visited during this period.

After my Youth Service which is a compulsory program in Nigeria to serve the Nation for one year; I joined the International Federation on Ageing-Nigeria (IFAN). During this time I served as the programme coordinator and acquired additional tools of thinking on the campaign for older people’s independence, dignity, healthy yet active participation and inclusion in political affairs.

Though I had experiences with other organizations yet I nursed this drive and passion for the welfare of the older persons. In 2011 Agewell Care Initiative was conceived and registration process commenced. The Board of Trustees was formed with common belief. Finally Agewell Care Initiative ([AWCI] – www.agewellcareinitive.com) was registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission in Nigeria as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) with the vision to assist the frail elderly, to maintain their independence and dignity while ageing. We have the mission to promote healthy ageing and encourage the older people to be contributing members of the community as well as the society at large. This, to us, is a pointer to increasing life expectancy apart from the healthy lifestyle of an individual.

Having satisfactorily completed the registration formalities, we embarked on a robust campaign for healthy ageing in 2012 and encouraged older people to be contributing members of their respective communities. This was to get people to better appreciate older persons with enormous potential to be utilized should the need arises. The initiative was welcomed following its clearly spelt out goals which amongst others was to support and develop measures, programmes and procedures that will support lifestyle and ageing to limit the number of dependent older persons. We discovered that the barriers preventing care of the elderly in Nigerian communities is insensitivity of the community to their plight. This is primarily because there are no clearly stated government policies for the elderly in Nigeria.

In 2013 (May 27-28), we attended the International Workshop on Ageing and Age-Friendly Environments in Yaoundé Cameroon organized by IFA and Friends of IFA, Japan.

There, we had the opportunity to register Agewell Care Initiative as an Associate Member of the International Federation on Ageing (IFA) to give the NGO a new face and a new flight on ageing issues. As a member of IFA we had the privileged information about the Policy Formulation 2013 programme. I saw the need to understand policy formulation and planning. By this I saw a new area of interest that we can leverage on. The programme was very beneficial.

The programme involved a rich selection of resources from International Organizations, professionals, researchers, academics, policy makers, government of other nations and individuals in the field of ageing, a practice not seen in my own country.

On return, our perspective changed from the usual welfare services for rural elderly to what is the role of the state in addressing the needs of older persons.

We saw the need to research and study the existing policy document to find out if at all the elderly is included. We got to understand that Policy documents are promoted by Population Dynamics in its identification of targets and indicators which would guide program implementation, monitoring and evaluation. We then saw the need to visit National Population Commission Nigeria and we saw that development models pursued by our government have concerns about the right and dignity of all groups of people at heart (elderly inclusive). And this is what guides policy makers and planners to achieve progress across all pillars of sustainable development. The question is ‘why then is the exclusion of this group of people during the implementation process? We were also made to understand that we have development priorities and focus of programme of action due to the prevailing demographic challenges.

Our National policy environment takes cognizance of the various challenges confronting the full realization of young people’s potentials for development. It realizes the importance of investing in our young population a resource for growing the economy, which in turn will necessitate the reaping of a demographic dividend. Policies are formulated based on this and emerging challenges including ageing are ignored. There was no better way to do it than organize programmes and getting stakeholders to be part of the programme to better understand that the issues of the older persons, if not addressed, will in turn visit on all of us. Nigeria is known to be the most populous nation in Africa at an estimated figure of 177.1 million total population. Over 4.4% of the entire population is ages 60years and above.

With the forgoing, our narrative changed. Our campaigns were now geared towards influencing public policy and promoting policy dialogue to meet the needs of older persons with particular emphasis on the free medical care for the aged. We also raise the awareness of new needs and new demands brought by population ageing. We were able to make our people especially those present in the meeting that the political declaration and International Plan of Action on Ageing 2002 if given the right attitude, attention and priority, can be achieved in our country regardless of the major constraints of poverty and ignorance.
On Friday 16th May, 2014, we formally flagged-off a 20-Saturday Intervention Programme for Older Persons in FCT– Abuja with theme “PROMOTING HEALTHY AGEING IN THE SOCIETY”.

The intervention programme designed to run for a period of Twenty (20) weeks commenced on 17th May and will last till October, 2014 to coincide with the commemoration of the International Day of Older Persons on 1st October 2014 for which Agewell Care Initiative plans to join the world in the celebration. The program is designed to strengthen preventive and health-promoting activities with old people as the target. The aim of the home visit was to support older people’s self-caring and aid them utilize their own resources bests.

By this programme we are able to detect and solve the need for help and support at an early stage which may reduce needs for more comprehensive help and support from the family and even government. We counsel and guide on activities and support options which postpones functional decline and maintain social relations. In the end, together we improve the older persons’ long term possibilities of leading a good, independent life that is a life without disability and postponement of needs for any help.

The Program was officially inaugurated by the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development. In participation was the Federal Ministry of Health, Social Development Secretariat/Health and Human Service Secretariat both of Abuja Federal Capital Territory Administration, National Population Commission, World Health Organization, UNFPA, World Bank, National Human Rights Commission, National Malaria Elimination Programme, National Industrial Court, the judiciary, pension administrators, corporate bodies, private organizations, researchers, academics, NGOs ,local community leaders and individuals from all works of life to learn, share and gain greater understanding of population ageing in our country. One of our greatest achievements was the fact that the National Policy on Roll Back Malaria which was targeted at population 0-5 years, has today, through our intervention program for older persons, been made to address malaria infection in the elderly through the free distribution of Long Lasting Mosquito Nets (LLMN) and provision of free diagnosis for the treatment of malaria as well as providing free drugs for malaria infected older persons.

The traditions and values that used to ensure the protection of older people in Nigeria are under

pressure due to social and economic changes. Today, the elderly are subject to various forms of abuse that include physical violence, rape and denial of basic necessities like food, water, shelter and health care. We had a case in Lagos State where a 74 years old man was beaten to coma in the month of June, 2014. In the same month a 22-year old Nigerian faces 20 years imprisonment for raping a 92-year old woman. (http://billionbill.blogspot.com/2014/06/22-year-old-nigerian-faces- 20-years.html?m=1).This news was reported in the radio station. In 2013 we had a case where a 72 year old woman was reported raped in Enugu State and several other abuses of all sorts. The elderly are also denied support by their families and communities. At the national level, older people are denied the opportunity to participate in issues that affect them and they are not adequately considered in national legislation.

Joining the world in observing the World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEAAD) on Sunday 15th June, 2014 was simply the right step in the right direction to deliberately and progressively address these issues as faced by older persons. The observation took place in Ikom-Boki-Etung Communities in Cross River State where elder abuse is very prevalent.

These were our reasons for the observation and to as often as possible bring it to limelight and make the general public to be sensitive to all forms of abuse as it affects the older person. This was a right-based programme and we utilized the right based approach to work with the elderly. During the programme we talked about promotion of development of older persons at the center of the process. We were able to place the elderly first and view them as key actors in their own development rather than as recipient of welfare. We had street walk, peaceful demonstration, enlightenment talk with the elderly themselves and the environs and we were able to sensitize the people to better recognize and reaffirm the elderly as citizens with all the rights, privileges and responsibilities that follow.

The program though a success, should be duplicated by our recommendation every three (3) months interval purposely to make people better appreciate and consider the older men and women in development issues. We are by this proposing a National Elder Abuse Conference. We hope the conference will bring government and stakeholders as well as policy makers and drivers of government to deliberate on all forms of abuse as it concerns Older Persons. For whatever reasons, whenever we bring the elderly out in their numbers, we leave them with relief items ranging from Touch Light, Walking Stick, Long Lasting Mosquito Treated Nets, Multivitamins drugs, Oral kits – Paste/Tooth Brush, Bath Kit, Detergent, etc. and Health advice.

We look forward to being exposed to more and even better programmes on ageing population and the challenges it poses. I believe the best is yet to come for Nigeria on ageing. We are now on track!

The talking should be endless for results to emerge for a common good – ageing generation.