Senator Atiku Bagudu, the minister of budget and economic planning, has emphasized the need of including elderly citizens’ desires and goals in the National Development Plan.
At a one-day capacity-building workshop on the domestication of the National Senior Citizens Center (NSCC), Act, and National Action Plan on Ageing, held in Abuja for state commissioners and directors of social welfare, Bagudu made these remarks.
The United Nations Population Fund, or UNFPA, and the NSCC worked together to organize the event.
The minister gave stakeholders assurances that the NSCC will collaborate with them to produce a precise and palatable document that would serve as a roadmap for ensuring that senior persons are appropriately included in the national development plan.
“The national planning function, housed inside the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, is responsible for maintaining national development plans and providing insight into the goals we have for Nigeria by 2050.
After that, we also complete the national development plan, which is a five-year plan, and the annual budget.
“The director general should make sure that these internet materials are taken into consideration, I would ask.
So that we may investigate and improve upon the areas where we have not adequately captured the desires and goals of our elderly folks, according to Bagudu.
He told the attendees that President Bola Tinubu’s administration was passionate about the welfare and well-being of the nation’s senior citizens and that this was reflected in the renewed hope agenda.
According to Mr. Abel Enitan, Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Nigeria is expected to house 30 million elderly people by the year 2050.
The Permanent Secretary, represented by the Ministry’s Director of Special Duties, Agnes Aneke, stated that appropriate planning was required to avert the situation.
It is crucial to acknowledge the worldwide trend of population aging, as the number of people aged 60 and over is predicted to rise by 56% by 2030 as we near the end of several decades of healthy aging.
Nigeria is expected to house 30 million elderly people by 2050.
“It is critical that we proactively implement policies and guidelines to address the challenges of ageing in Nigeria, even if the country’s population is not yet at an alarming rate.”
Negative preconceptions provide a barrier for older people.