Dr. Betta Edu, Minister for Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, emphasised President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration’s commitment to preventing Nigeria’s elderly from sliding into poverty. This promise was made at a 2023 International and National Day of Older Persons commemoration event with the topic “Fulfilling The Promises of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights For Older Persons Across Generations.” The Ministry collaborated with the National Senior Citizens’ Centre, the United Nations, and other organisations to plan the event.<\/p>\n
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Minister Betta Edu emphasized that Nigeria’s elderly population is a top priority for the federal government and must be protected. She revealed that President Tinubu has directed the Ministry to allocate 10% of social safety net intervention programs specifically for older persons in the country. This directive underscores the importance of addressing the rights and well-being of senior citizens in areas such as job security, health, livelihood, agriculture, and overall development planning.<\/p>\n
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Dr. Edu stated, “Presently, older persons are said to be about 14.8 million out of the entire population. All citizens at all levels must be protected. And that’s why President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has rightly directed that in all our social welfare interfaces, 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.”<\/p>\n
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The Minister further disclosed that the Ministry would launch two social intervention programs this year with a strong emphasis on benefiting senior citizens affected by humanitarian crises. She commended the National Senior Citizens Centre for its efforts in creating a model home where older citizens can experience dignity and care.<\/p>\n
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In her appeal to UN agencies and development partners, Dr. Edu stressed the importance of considering the interests and well-being of older citizens in their day-to-day operations.<\/p>\n
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Speaking at the event, Matthias Schmale, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, commended Nigeria for establishing the National Senior Citizens Centre, recognizing it as a positive step towards protecting the rights of older persons. He acknowledged the ongoing challenges faced by older individuals despite the 1948 Universal Declaration on Human Rights, highlighting the importance of continuous efforts to promote and protect their rights.<\/p>\n
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The Director-General of the National Senior Citizens Centre, Dr. Emem Omakaro, expressed her gratitude to Minister Betta Edu for her attendance and dedication to addressing the issues faced by older persons in Nigeria. She noted that since its inception in 2021, the Centre has raised awareness about the plight of older citizens in the country and expressed optimism that under Dr. Edu’s leadership, Nigeria’s older population would experience an improved quality of life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dr. Betta Edu, Minister for Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, emphasised President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration’s commitment to preventing Nigeria’s elderly from sliding into poverty. This promise was made at a 2023 International and National Day of Older Persons commemoration event with the topic “Fulfilling The Promises of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights For […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2238,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2951"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2951\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2952,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2951\/revisions\/2952"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}