Labour tasks FG on welfare policies for senior citizens

Labour tasks FG on welfare policies for senior citizens

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Written by Adunola Fasuyi, Lagos Friday, 05 November 2010

The National Association of Trade Union Veterans (NATUV) has charged the Federal Government to, as a matter of urgency, institute a social security policy for senior citizens and the unemployed to reduce to the barest minimum the prevalent poverty in the country.
The group, which noted that before Nigeria could attain its aim of becoming one of the leading economies by 2020, it was expedient to consider, formulate and implement social security policies, urging the government to take cue from countries like Brazil, South Africa, Ethiopia and Egypt, which despite their economic situations still endeavoured to pay stipends of between $100 - $120 to their senior citizens.
President of NATUV Mr S. O. Osidipe,  who gave the call at a press conference and communiqué presentation on welfare for senior citizens by NATUV in Lagos, said it was disheartening that Nigerian constitution and various other laws had no precise provision for the care of the senior citizens and that the issue of social security that was taken seriously by other countries including some African countries was conspicuously absent and lacking in Nigeria, the giant of the continent.
Osidipe said at the event, which was co-sponsored by Friedrich-Ebert Stiftung (FES) in UNILAG, that despite the impressive economic performance since 1960s and most importantly between 2003 and 2007 and the estimated savings of $16 billion in April 2008 and $20 billion in January 2009 in Nigeria’s excess crude account, the welfare deficits for senior citizens both in the formal and informal sectors in Nigeria was rather appalling while poverty among the elderly was rampant.