President Address

The United Nations International Day for Older Persons is celebrated on the 1st of October every year. It came about by resolution 45 / 106 of the United Nations on 14th December 1990. Each year it has a theme to address issues affecting older persons. 2021 theme is Digital Equity for all Ages. It tries to affirm the need for access and meaningful participation in the digital world by Older Persons. In Nigeria, not many older persons are digitally literate hence are not fully participating in our current digital economy. Many older persons today have the most expensive phones some with 526 Gigabite. All they use such machines for are phone calls and WhatsApp if they know how to receive and send messages. As a Coalition our members and youths and all children have a responsibility to educate and help the inclusion of all older persons in the digital world. My mother is 103 and through the use of WhatsApp she could speak with me to clear her worries over problem and issues with my leg. Every older person should receive education and inclusion in the digital space. The UN International Day for older persons aims to raise awareness of the worldwide impact of an ageing population and the need to ensure people can grow old with dignity and also to elevate the consciousness about things that are affecting older persons as they age .eg there are elder abuse, stereotyping, neglect, denial of rights and so many other things some of you and I know because of where we come from. 1st October every year is also to celebrate, honour and show respect to the contributions of older persons as individuals to families and the society. In Nigeria older persons have been excluded from a lot of things, excluded from developmental plans and initiatives, leading to the current state of older persons in Nigeria who have their health insurance withdrawn on retirement at 60 or have no health coverage. No social or economic security, there is Elder abuse, stereotyping, abandonment, denial of rights, family exploitations, no legal backing for their rights and privileges. Indeed the state of rural older persons are very pitiable and hopeless. In the past, many NGOs and CSOs came up to support older persons in different areas, some of these NGOs and CSOs were consciously established by their promoters to meet specific needs of older persons because of the problem noticed by the promoters around them. Others came about by what I regard as divine or coincidental situations, eg Graceful Ageing Fellowship (GRAF) which was started through a personal sickness experience. GRAF today is involved with healthy aging and lifestyle promotion. At the 6th year anniversary celebration of GRAF, purely by God's inspiration the Coalition of Societies for the Rights of Older Persons in Nigeria (COSROPIN) was birthed. In 6 years COSROPIN has brought issues of older persons to the front burner, working with government and other NGOs /CSOs to develop the National Policy on Ageing. COSROPIN championed the establishment of the National Senior Citizens Centre (NSCC) and on his own has developed a draft Bill on the Rights and Privileges of Older Persons in Nigeria, that Bill has been passed by the Senate and is now awaiting concurrence by the house of Representative. Today we plead with the Speaker and the House members to please give attention to this Bill. His Excellency, President Mohamadu Buhari has shown good faith to Nigerian older persons and we are confident that judging from his friendly disposition towards us, that he will give accent to this bill. Let me use this opportunity to thank our amiable Senate President, Senator Ezenwa Onyewuchi and all the Senators for giving that bill a quick passage. All the other achievements and activities of COSROPIN are in the flyers we are distributing to you today. We are here at this Rally to create awareness on the United Nations International Day for Older Persons though on every October 1st but the celebration continues throughout this month. COSROPIN, has 82 registered corporate organisations nationally working very hard to ensure the welfare, well-being and dignity of Older Persons are preserved. In the next 1 or 2 years you will find that a lot of policies will be rolled out by Government in favour of the older persons due to the activities of COSROPIN and other groups. On Friday 1st of October we were in Mabushi village to share food items to the local older persons. Their joy knew no bounds as the women sang and danced. On the 2nd we had a Webinar on Alzheimer/Dementia a common disease of older persons. On the 3rd yesterday we were in some churches to cause prayers to be said for older persons, today we are at this Rally to create awareness of the issues affecting older persons no matter wherever they are located because many are in very deplorable conditions. Older persons desire the support of all. Government alone cannot do it. We need private sector support and community programs to support COSROPIN in our work with older persons. We have various other activities for the benefit of older persons in the days ahead. Let me say congratulations to all for celebrating this year's International Day for Older Persons with us and that you for being at this Rally. God bless our older persons. Thanks Senator Dr. Eze Ajoku