A recent call to service to visit some Local Government Areas in my home state - Ogun - afforded me the opportunity to interact with several retired senior citizens. The occasion was the on-going screening exercise of all retired local government staff and primary school teachers being conducted by the State's Bureau of local Government Pensions. The exercise was conducted to ascertain the actual number of pensioners and their emoluments.
Many Nigerian pensioners now rightfully called senior citizens will tell you that they have not really had very good treatment. Those in the public sector have many tales of woe to tell. Some in moments of frustration are said to even curse the day they began their careers in the public service. Over the years there are very many reports of retirees passing away without collecting one penny of their retirement benefits. The processes for collection are somewhat cumbersome and involve several verification exercises. We have read several reports about just how dreadful some verification exercises could be. My late mother attended one such exercise and never went back to the venue. In the scramble to be attended to she lost all her documents, wallet, identity card etc. I once saw a man collapse from exhaustion during a verification queue at the NIPOST in the Moloney Street area. The pension system prior to the Pension Reform Act in 2004 was in shambles.
The situation was so bad that even the Federal Government admitted that it could not meet its pension obligations because it was weighed down by accumulated arrears.
In everyday terms this caused untold hardship to our senior citizens. Many retirees from the public sector live in abject poverty. Corruption was rife and so the verification exercises became necessary channels to weed out ghost pensioners. However due to poor planning ended up being very chaotic and a source of anguish. It was not uncommon to see long queues of old men and women waiting to receive their payments. Perhaps one of the most heart-rending was the circumstances of the retired soldiers.
Ruxton Road in Ikoyi which was home to the Pensions office became a temporary home to many retirees. They used nylon sheets to build makeshift shelters and huddled in them day after day saying they had no where else to go. The stench of human waste and litter made the area unbearable for the residents and workers alike. The situation was no different for pensioners from other Ministries, Departments and Agencies such. It was nothing short of a national scandal.
It was therefore heart warming to witness a screening exercise that was orderly and well planned. Senior citizens have contributed immensely towards the growth of our nation and this was further brought home to me during my interaction with some of them at the screening process.
I met men and women in their sixties and seventies who had spent their entire careers as teachers, nurses or in one administrative post or the other. Guess what? Their spoken English and diction was impeccable. A few let me into some parts of their careers and smiled with pride as they recalled their working lives. Of them struck me because he joined the service in February 1959. I am sure he will not mind me mentioning his name.
Chief J.O. Apitipiti retired from service as a head teacher. It was clear to me that he was and still is a walking encyclopaedia. These are men and women from very humble backgrounds but it was obvious that education during their time was top quality. Whether the nation can lay claim to such standards today is debatable. Many of our graduates these days do not only speak poorly they cannot sustain a conversation in impeccable English. Many display slovenly attitude towards work and are not really interested in doing their jobs.
One of the pensioners was piggy-backed to the venue of the screening exercise. He was asked if he would thumbprint or append his signature to the form. He opted for the latter to show the on -lookers that he could read and write despite the state of his health. When I caught with him later he was clearly in a good mental state despite his physical frailty. In crisp clear English he thanked me for speeding up the processing of his form and sparing him the agony of having to wait because of his ill-health.
Our retirees from the public service have put in thirty-five years of their lives into the growth of the society. The least we can do as a nation is to ensure that the pension commitments towards these men and women are met as when due.
In some advanced nations the power of the senior citizens is not taken for granted. The 'Grey Vote' as it is known in the United Kingdom is a well-recognised political constituency that no politician worth his salt can afford to overlook. The Old Aged Pensioner's (OAPs) have become a formidable group with a powerful voice making sure that none of their interests are overlooked. The palaver last winter over high costs of fuel and the bashing the British Government received from the aged was well documented by the media. Generally speaking all the political parties tend to reach out with what have been dubbed 'grab a granny' policies.
The political class should be creative in reaching out to our senior citizens. Beyond the cultural beliefs that behove that we care for our elderly and the religious injunctions that admonish us to honour our father and mother, government has a huge social responsibility towards its retired workers.
Sadly the rural - urban drift has meant that many senior citizens are left in the villages to fend for themselves. Many of those which I saw during the screening exercise came clutching their documents as if their lives depended on the dog-eared pieces of papers. In a sense it did. That's how to prove your identity. Occasionally during the roll call officials were informed that a particular retiree was dead.
The onus is on the three tiers of government to ensure prompt payment of gratuities to our senior citizens. We should not allow them to fall through the social safety net due to inefficiencies.
In some societies, special day centres are created for senior citizens to use as points to receive information, social networking etc. Such centres are run by the local councils and retirees are given a sense of belonging and made to still feel a part of the community which they devoted their professional energies towards developing. If youth centres can be built to cater for the needs why cant a few centres be devoted towards the recreational welfare and well-being of the elderly.
Travels around the country over the years it is evident that our retirees have been virtually left behind in their hamlets and compounds. Indeed some have taken to the streets and have become vagrants. Programmes that are community-specific can be introduced and sustained by well- meaning private sector operators. One such programme is currently being championed by Yeye Olufunke Daniel wife of the Governor of Ogun State. The Care for the Aged programme was initiated in 2004 to meet the needs of senior citizens in the State. It has proved to be well-appreciated amongst its beneficiaries.
Any permanent role for the private sector? The debate about what really constitutes Corporate Social Responsibility has never fully been fully defined in Nigeria. While the Federal, State and Local Governments should not be absolved from their responsibilities towards their retired workers, care for the elderly should not be limited to periods of festivities and photo opportunities for MDs and CEOs. Care and empathy for our senior citizens within our communities should actually concern us all.
Copyright © 2009 This Day.
April 9, 2009
NIGERIA: Encounter With Senior Citizens
.
LAGOS, Nigeria / This Day / Opinion / April 9, 2009
By Tayo Agunbiade
A recent call to service to visit some Local Government Areas in my home state - Ogun - afforded me the opportunity to interact with several retired senior citizens. The occasion was the on-going screening exercise of all retired local government staff and primary school teachers being conducted by the State's Bureau of local Government Pensions. The exercise was conducted to ascertain the actual number of pensioners and their emoluments.
Many Nigerian pensioners now rightfully called senior citizens will tell you that they have not really had very good treatment. Those in the public sector have many tales of woe to tell. Some in moments of frustration are said to even curse the day they began their careers in the public service. Over the years there are very many reports of retirees passing away without collecting one penny of their retirement benefits. The processes for collection are somewhat cumbersome and involve several verification exercises. We have read several reports about just how dreadful some verification exercises could be. My late mother attended one such exercise and never went back to the venue. In the scramble to be attended to she lost all her documents, wallet, identity card etc. I once saw a man collapse from exhaustion during a verification queue at the NIPOST in the Moloney Street area. The pension system prior to the Pension Reform Act in 2004 was in shambles.
The situation was so bad that even the Federal Government admitted that it could not meet its pension obligations because it was weighed down by accumulated arrears.
In everyday terms this caused untold hardship to our senior citizens. Many retirees from the public sector live in abject poverty. Corruption was rife and so the verification exercises became necessary channels to weed out ghost pensioners. However due to poor planning ended up being very chaotic and a source of anguish. It was not uncommon to see long queues of old men and women waiting to receive their payments. Perhaps one of the most heart-rending was the circumstances of the retired soldiers.
Ruxton Road in Ikoyi which was home to the Pensions office became a temporary home to many retirees. They used nylon sheets to build makeshift shelters and huddled in them day after day saying they had no where else to go. The stench of human waste and litter made the area unbearable for the residents and workers alike. The situation was no different for pensioners from other Ministries, Departments and Agencies such. It was nothing short of a national scandal.
It was therefore heart warming to witness a screening exercise that was orderly and well planned. Senior citizens have contributed immensely towards the growth of our nation and this was further brought home to me during my interaction with some of them at the screening process.
I met men and women in their sixties and seventies who had spent their entire careers as teachers, nurses or in one administrative post or the other. Guess what? Their spoken English and diction was impeccable. A few let me into some parts of their careers and smiled with pride as they recalled their working lives. Of them struck me because he joined the service in February 1959. I am sure he will not mind me mentioning his name.
Chief J.O. Apitipiti retired from service as a head teacher. It was clear to me that he was and still is a walking encyclopaedia. These are men and women from very humble backgrounds but it was obvious that education during their time was top quality. Whether the nation can lay claim to such standards today is debatable. Many of our graduates these days do not only speak poorly they cannot sustain a conversation in impeccable English. Many display slovenly attitude towards work and are not really interested in doing their jobs.
One of the pensioners was piggy-backed to the venue of the screening exercise. He was asked if he would thumbprint or append his signature to the form. He opted for the latter to show the on -lookers that he could read and write despite the state of his health. When I caught with him later he was clearly in a good mental state despite his physical frailty. In crisp clear English he thanked me for speeding up the processing of his form and sparing him the agony of having to wait because of his ill-health.
Our retirees from the public service have put in thirty-five years of their lives into the growth of the society. The least we can do as a nation is to ensure that the pension commitments towards these men and women are met as when due.
In some advanced nations the power of the senior citizens is not taken for granted. The 'Grey Vote' as it is known in the United Kingdom is a well-recognised political constituency that no politician worth his salt can afford to overlook. The Old Aged Pensioner's (OAPs) have become a formidable group with a powerful voice making sure that none of their interests are overlooked. The palaver last winter over high costs of fuel and the bashing the British Government received from the aged was well documented by the media. Generally speaking all the political parties tend to reach out with what have been dubbed 'grab a granny' policies.
The political class should be creative in reaching out to our senior citizens. Beyond the cultural beliefs that behove that we care for our elderly and the religious injunctions that admonish us to honour our father and mother, government has a huge social responsibility towards its retired workers.
Sadly the rural - urban drift has meant that many senior citizens are left in the villages to fend for themselves. Many of those which I saw during the screening exercise came clutching their documents as if their lives depended on the dog-eared pieces of papers. In a sense it did. That's how to prove your identity. Occasionally during the roll call officials were informed that a particular retiree was dead.
The onus is on the three tiers of government to ensure prompt payment of gratuities to our senior citizens. We should not allow them to fall through the social safety net due to inefficiencies.
In some societies, special day centres are created for senior citizens to use as points to receive information, social networking etc. Such centres are run by the local councils and retirees are given a sense of belonging and made to still feel a part of the community which they devoted their professional energies towards developing. If youth centres can be built to cater for the needs why cant a few centres be devoted towards the recreational welfare and well-being of the elderly.
Travels around the country over the years it is evident that our retirees have been virtually left behind in their hamlets and compounds. Indeed some have taken to the streets and have become vagrants. Programmes that are community-specific can be introduced and sustained by well- meaning private sector operators. One such programme is currently being championed by Yeye Olufunke Daniel wife of the Governor of Ogun State. The Care for the Aged programme was initiated in 2004 to meet the needs of senior citizens in the State. It has proved to be well-appreciated amongst its beneficiaries.
Any permanent role for the private sector? The debate about what really constitutes Corporate Social Responsibility has never fully been fully defined in Nigeria. While the Federal, State and Local Governments should not be absolved from their responsibilities towards their retired workers, care for the elderly should not be limited to periods of festivities and photo opportunities for MDs and CEOs. Care and empathy for our senior citizens within our communities should actually concern us all.
Copyright © 2009 This Day.
A recent call to service to visit some Local Government Areas in my home state - Ogun - afforded me the opportunity to interact with several retired senior citizens. The occasion was the on-going screening exercise of all retired local government staff and primary school teachers being conducted by the State's Bureau of local Government Pensions. The exercise was conducted to ascertain the actual number of pensioners and their emoluments.
Many Nigerian pensioners now rightfully called senior citizens will tell you that they have not really had very good treatment. Those in the public sector have many tales of woe to tell. Some in moments of frustration are said to even curse the day they began their careers in the public service. Over the years there are very many reports of retirees passing away without collecting one penny of their retirement benefits. The processes for collection are somewhat cumbersome and involve several verification exercises. We have read several reports about just how dreadful some verification exercises could be. My late mother attended one such exercise and never went back to the venue. In the scramble to be attended to she lost all her documents, wallet, identity card etc. I once saw a man collapse from exhaustion during a verification queue at the NIPOST in the Moloney Street area. The pension system prior to the Pension Reform Act in 2004 was in shambles.
The situation was so bad that even the Federal Government admitted that it could not meet its pension obligations because it was weighed down by accumulated arrears.
In everyday terms this caused untold hardship to our senior citizens. Many retirees from the public sector live in abject poverty. Corruption was rife and so the verification exercises became necessary channels to weed out ghost pensioners. However due to poor planning ended up being very chaotic and a source of anguish. It was not uncommon to see long queues of old men and women waiting to receive their payments. Perhaps one of the most heart-rending was the circumstances of the retired soldiers.
Ruxton Road in Ikoyi which was home to the Pensions office became a temporary home to many retirees. They used nylon sheets to build makeshift shelters and huddled in them day after day saying they had no where else to go. The stench of human waste and litter made the area unbearable for the residents and workers alike. The situation was no different for pensioners from other Ministries, Departments and Agencies such. It was nothing short of a national scandal.
It was therefore heart warming to witness a screening exercise that was orderly and well planned. Senior citizens have contributed immensely towards the growth of our nation and this was further brought home to me during my interaction with some of them at the screening process.
I met men and women in their sixties and seventies who had spent their entire careers as teachers, nurses or in one administrative post or the other. Guess what? Their spoken English and diction was impeccable. A few let me into some parts of their careers and smiled with pride as they recalled their working lives. Of them struck me because he joined the service in February 1959. I am sure he will not mind me mentioning his name.
Chief J.O. Apitipiti retired from service as a head teacher. It was clear to me that he was and still is a walking encyclopaedia. These are men and women from very humble backgrounds but it was obvious that education during their time was top quality. Whether the nation can lay claim to such standards today is debatable. Many of our graduates these days do not only speak poorly they cannot sustain a conversation in impeccable English. Many display slovenly attitude towards work and are not really interested in doing their jobs.
One of the pensioners was piggy-backed to the venue of the screening exercise. He was asked if he would thumbprint or append his signature to the form. He opted for the latter to show the on -lookers that he could read and write despite the state of his health. When I caught with him later he was clearly in a good mental state despite his physical frailty. In crisp clear English he thanked me for speeding up the processing of his form and sparing him the agony of having to wait because of his ill-health.
Our retirees from the public service have put in thirty-five years of their lives into the growth of the society. The least we can do as a nation is to ensure that the pension commitments towards these men and women are met as when due.
In some advanced nations the power of the senior citizens is not taken for granted. The 'Grey Vote' as it is known in the United Kingdom is a well-recognised political constituency that no politician worth his salt can afford to overlook. The Old Aged Pensioner's (OAPs) have become a formidable group with a powerful voice making sure that none of their interests are overlooked. The palaver last winter over high costs of fuel and the bashing the British Government received from the aged was well documented by the media. Generally speaking all the political parties tend to reach out with what have been dubbed 'grab a granny' policies.
The political class should be creative in reaching out to our senior citizens. Beyond the cultural beliefs that behove that we care for our elderly and the religious injunctions that admonish us to honour our father and mother, government has a huge social responsibility towards its retired workers.
Sadly the rural - urban drift has meant that many senior citizens are left in the villages to fend for themselves. Many of those which I saw during the screening exercise came clutching their documents as if their lives depended on the dog-eared pieces of papers. In a sense it did. That's how to prove your identity. Occasionally during the roll call officials were informed that a particular retiree was dead.
The onus is on the three tiers of government to ensure prompt payment of gratuities to our senior citizens. We should not allow them to fall through the social safety net due to inefficiencies.
In some societies, special day centres are created for senior citizens to use as points to receive information, social networking etc. Such centres are run by the local councils and retirees are given a sense of belonging and made to still feel a part of the community which they devoted their professional energies towards developing. If youth centres can be built to cater for the needs why cant a few centres be devoted towards the recreational welfare and well-being of the elderly.
Travels around the country over the years it is evident that our retirees have been virtually left behind in their hamlets and compounds. Indeed some have taken to the streets and have become vagrants. Programmes that are community-specific can be introduced and sustained by well- meaning private sector operators. One such programme is currently being championed by Yeye Olufunke Daniel wife of the Governor of Ogun State. The Care for the Aged programme was initiated in 2004 to meet the needs of senior citizens in the State. It has proved to be well-appreciated amongst its beneficiaries.
Any permanent role for the private sector? The debate about what really constitutes Corporate Social Responsibility has never fully been fully defined in Nigeria. While the Federal, State and Local Governments should not be absolved from their responsibilities towards their retired workers, care for the elderly should not be limited to periods of festivities and photo opportunities for MDs and CEOs. Care and empathy for our senior citizens within our communities should actually concern us all.
Copyright © 2009 This Day.
