Older persons’ welfare challenges are not peculiar to any region or country, as improving health care; preventing violence against older persons, participation of older persons in decision-making processes; reducing poverty among older persons, among other are always in public discourse across the world. However, while some countries have better policies to enable them address the challenges, others do not.
Available demographic data in the country have shown that the population of older persons in Nigeria is currently estimated at about 8.2 million and it is expected to increase by three per cent, annually. However, there is no well-designed policy to address their needs in a holistic manner.
This need inspired the Dave Omokaro Foundation (DOF) to sign an agreement in Abuja recently, with the International Institute on Ageing, United Nations-Malta (INIA) on Ageing Development and Training in Sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) to enable it host the institute’s programmes in all aspects of ageing in Nigeria.
The INIA also organised a weeklong in-situ training and workshop, in collaboration with the foundation, aimed at national capacity building for ageing policy formulation and development not only in Nigeria, but across SSA.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed following the success of the collaboration between the National Universities Commission (NUC) and DOF, which led to the development of the Benchmark Minimum Academic Standards (BMAS) curriculum for Gerontology and Geriatrics Programmes and the training of 24 scholars at the University of North Texas, Denton, USA to build capacity and mainstream the study in the Nigerian University System (NUS).
In his remarks, the Executive Secretary of NUC, Professor Julius Okojie, who was represented by the Deputy Executive Secretary II, Mallam Ibrahim Dan’Iya, commended the parties for signing the MoU.
He recalled that in 2012, when the Director of INIA, Professor Joseph Troisi, was invited to speak at the International Day of Older Persons (IDOP), the commission had requested for the opening of a sub-regional Centre of INIA in Nigeria to facilitate training and capacity building of experts that would provide care and specialised services for older persons in the country.
Okojie said though the request is yet to be approved, the foundation deserves commendation for working assiduously to provide a similar platform for the delivery of INIA outreach programmes in Nigeria.
He expressed hope that the relationship would provide the needed impetus to create awareness for policy makers and other stakeholders to ensure the mainstreaming of older persons in the country’s development agenda.
According to him, having partnered DOF over the past five years, he could vouch for the foundation, adding that INIA found a credible and worthy partner.
The Director of the institute, Dr. Marvin Fermosa, said the workshop was a platform to improve on current ageing policies that offered prospects for improving the quality of life of the older population. This, he said, would enable older persons to age actively, successfully and productively.
He said the Madrid International Plan Action adopted at the Second World Assembly on Ageing, held in Madrid, Spain in 2002 was a cornerstone in this respect, adding that since the adoption of the plan, progress had been made across a broad range of issues for the protection of older persons and promotion of ageing issues.
Fermosa said the African Union Policy Framework and Plan of Action constituted another watershed moment for the continent’s capacity building in ageing, adding that some challenges such as improving health care, preventing violence against older persons, participation of older persons in the decision-making processes and reducing poverty among older persons remained formidable throughout the world.
The director stated that INIA has been facilitating the implementation of the Madrid Action Plan on Ageing through annual training programmes in Malta on Social Gerontology, Health Promotion in Later Life and Social Policy Planning and Implementation.
He disclosed that in 2015 alone, INIA conducted four in-situ training programmes, three in China and one in the Philippines, adding that within the first half of this year, it hosted training missions in India, Turkey and China. These he said would be followed by programmes in Malaysia, Philippines, Belarus and Kenya. Fermosa said the institute has so far trained 2,189 participants from 150 countries in its regular international short and long-term training programmes held in Malta, while it also carried out 102 in-situ training programmes in 28 different countries, training more than 3,200 various professionals in the field of ageing.
He thanked Professor Nana Apt for accepting to act as INIA’s international expert on the training and called for active participation of the stakeholders, urging them to take necessary measures to put into action the implementable steps to better the lives of the older persons in line with the nation’s realities.
The Executive Director of DOF, Dr. Emem Omokaro, who thanked all stakeholders that supported the initiative, said the agreement was an indication of the relevance of the foundation’s capacity building efforts; its impact on policy and services gaps and the recognition of the need for concrete national structures for increasing the ageing capacities in Nigeria.
She said the participants had the task of addressing what could be done to guarantee better quality of life and improved wellbeing of Nigeria’s ageing demographics.
According Omokaro, the demographics included: addressing economic inequalities to reduce the incidence of poverty in old age; making older persons more independent and economically engaged for as long as they are able as well as creating age friendly communities that can address social exclusion, among others.
She stressed the need to address these challenges through broader inter- sectoral efforts involving policy and decision makers across government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), civil society organisations in ageing and media organisations to find answers to the demographic issues.
Omokaro commended the United NationsDepartment of Economic and Social Affairs for accrediting DOF to be part of its Openended Working Group on Ageing, while reiterating that the collective objective of the workshop was to build capacities for mainstreaming effective proactive Ageing Strategies and related Public Policy Formulation for Nigeria. She expressed hope that the federal government would harness the lessons, skills and passion of the trainees by translating the INIA-DOF 2016 class into a National Working Group on Ageing with the mandate to review the existing draft policies of 2003 and 2008 and facilitate its finalisation. She also expressed hope that the derivable from the training would feed conceptualisation and drafting of legislations on ageing.
On her part, the lead resource person, Professor Apt, said the workshop was timely and that Africa must see the plight of the elderly as deserving utmost attention. She explained that the institutionalisation of policy and legal frameworks are vital to addressing it, adding that the issues of the elderly need to be tackled from a three-pronged approach of the individual, society and governmental institutions.
She said the training was different from others, as it was the first time a purely African programme on ageing was organised and tailored to meet the needs of the elderly in Nigeria. She advised the participants to begin to identify the relevant persons required in government and the civil society to ensure that the draft policy is formulated and ready for implementation.
At the end of the conference, stakeholders in the field of ageing called on the federal government to articulate a national policy framework that would address the needs of older persons in a holistic manner to include the provision of social security insurance, housing development and road constructions that are elderly persons-friendly by 2030.
In his remarks, WHO’s Representative in Nigeria, Dr. Rui Gama Vaz, who was represented by Dr. Andrew Mbuewe, said his passion for issues of the elderly made him support DOF in its efforts at domesticating ageing issues in Nigeria.
He said the success of the training would become more meaningful when the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Welfare Development, as well as that of Health serve as arrowheads to encourage not only the development of ageing policy, but nexus for its full implementation.
In their separate comments, representatives of the Federal Ministries of Health, Labour and Productivity, as well as Budget and National Planning, among others, thanked the organisers and sponsors for the opportunity given them to participate at the workshop and for the rich contents drawn from domestic experiences, which further exposed them to the plight of older persons. They urged DOF/INIA to take the course beyond the level of policy formulation to address the real issues affecting the dayto- day lives of the elderly.
They called for the formation of pressure groups and networks that would follow up on policies of the ministries and ensure the judicious implementation of budgets on older persons. The ministries also noted that the outcome of the workshop would encourage them to provide social security insurance for the workforce and retirees that are mainly in the older persons’ age bracket.
A director in the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) said the agency is ready to mainstream the issues of ageing in its programmes beginning with the creation of a desk and funding mechanism for Ageing Studies.
The director also expressed the readiness of NHIS to play its expected role to help address the health needs and universal coverage of the elderly in their programmes.
A representative from Zambia, Ms. Getrudo Zukambita, who also expressed delight at the course content, noted that Zambia would adapt the policy and formulate it to meet the needs of its ageing population. She said Zambia has a population of 15 million persons, with about 2.8 per cent, representing over 550,000 persons, as aged.
A representative of Edo State Ministry of Women Affairs, Dr. Francis Ohio, appealed to the participants to ensure that the outcome is replicated in states to ensure that all relevant stakeholders are involved in formulating the national policy to delineate the specific roles each should play in meeting the needs of the elderly.
By: Uchechukwu Nnaike
This Day News
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