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From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Coalition of Societies for the Rights of Older Persons in Nigeria (COSROPRIN) has champion a campaign for the establishment of National Elders’ Parliament, aimed at providing a platform for discussion on issues that concern the elderly people in the society.
COSROPIN explained that the proposed elder s’ parliament will also serve as a platform for alternative conflict resolution that will deploy wisdom, counsel and experiences of the elderly to contribute to the peace promotion, development and conflict resolution in Nigeria.
COSROPIN President, Dr. Eze Ajoku, who spoke at a consultative meeting of stakeholders involved in the issues of the elderly, explained that the experienced used to achieve result in previous targets, particularly the National Policy on Ageing would be deployed to achieve the new goal.
He said: “It was COSROPIN’s advocacy that brought the National Senior Citizen Centre Act to the attention of the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, on its formation few years ago.
“We are happy to report that the Older Persons (Rights and priviledge) Bill 2019 has been passed by the Senate, awaiting concurrence with the House of Representative.
“Currently, COSROPIN is involved in advocacy for National Non-Contributory Health Insurance for all Older Persons of over 70 years, and maintenance of the current health insurance for retiring civil servant at age 60, for the 10 years before they join the National insurance. As the voice of Older persons, COSROPIN is at the forefront of issues affecting older persons.
“The idea is for the National Elders’ Parliament to be a consultative socio-cultural alternative conflict resolution platform, non-religious, non-political, that will use the wisdom, counsel and experiences of the elderly to contribute to the peace promotion, development and conflict resolution mechanism of the country.
“It’s a project designed to maximally utilize the wisdom, experience and network of elder statesmen with integrity and pedigree drawn from various geo-political zones of Nigeria, as alternative conflict resolution and peace building mechanism for the Nation.”
The Coordinator, International Federation on Ageing Nigeria (IFAN), Ike Willie-Nwobu, explained that the proposed elders parliament will be funded through goodwill, sponsorship, donation and other intervention through national and international resource and funding windows using outreaches and extension partnership.
He said: “If we have children and youth parliaments, why not elderly Parliament to complete the circle, thus erasing the politics of exclusion and marginalization.
“Our armed forces, national security infrastructure, judicial system, organized private sector and several others would benefit hugely from the NEP initiative, horizontally and vertically.”
