Juliet Jacob Ochenje
The Minister for Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Betta Edu, has disclosed that 10% of Nigeria’s social safety net intervention programmes will be set aside for older persons in the country.
She said this was as directed alby President Bola Ahmed Tinubu who has vowed that his government would do everything humanly possible to prevent Nigeria’s older citizens from slipping below the poverty line.
The Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the Minister, Rasheed Olanrewaju Zubair, in a statement, disclosed that the Minister made this known recently at an event to commemorate International and National Day of Older Persons, 2023 with the theme “Fulfilling The Promises of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights For Older Persons Across Generations”.
It was organised by the Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation Ministry, through the National Senior Citizens’ Centre, in partnership with the United Nations.
Edu described Nigeria’s elderly population as citizens who priority must be given to in job security, health, livelihood, and other development planning.
“Presently, older persons are said to be about 14.8 million out of the entire population. All the citizens at all levels must be protected and that’s why President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has rightly directed that in all our social welfare interface, which is the social safety net, we must ensure the protection of all Nigerians including the older citizens and prevent them from slipping below the poverty line,” she stated.
