The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals Princess Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire has said that the Federal Government is going to mainstream issues affecting the aged in the SDGs framework.
The Senior Special Assistant who was represented by the Secretary of Program on Sustainable Development Goals, Alh. Laminu Waziri gave the assurance in Abuja recently when a delegation from the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs led by Rosemary Lane paid her a courtesy visit.
The SSAP said that the welfare of the aged and the vulnerable in the society remain paramount to the government, maintaining that government is leaving no stone unturned to making sure the aged are given adequate care and support they need.
While expressing delight to the the UN team here in Nigeria to discuss on possible ways the UN can provide support to address issues of ageing, she urged the team to specifically consider areas of capacity building and training of care givers for the aged.
She noted that SDGs clearly identified older persons with disabilities as integral part of development, adding that they are often confronted with number of challenges which include poverty, access to basic health care services, issues of abuse and rights violations.
In her words “Issues on Gender, Ageing and Disabilities are cross cutting and very crucial to achieving the SDG goals. We must therefore address these concerns in order to ensure no one is left behind”.
Earlier, the leader of the delegation, Rosemary Lane has stated that the purpose of the visit is to ascertain how older people in Nigeria are being integrated into the SDGs as well as to assess how Nigeria is addressing youth unemployment, gender violence; stressing that a lot of work needs to be done in the area of safety nets for workers.
In her remarks, the Executive Director, Dave Omakoro Foundation, Dr. Emeka Omakoro, appealed to OSSAP-SDGs to create a desk on the aged to ensure proper coordination and handling of ageing matters.
She also called for stakeholder advocacy group on ageing to address issues on ageing, adding that ageing issues are emerging with their economic implications which must be addressed frontally.
She opined that ageing is an industry whereby older people engage in income generating ventures, stressing that investment in the older persons is investment in the ; hence the aged should not be neglected.
Caption: The Secretary of Program, Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals Alh. Waziri Laminu representing the SSAP, presenting MDGs End-point report and other documents pertaining to the SDGs implementation in Nigeria to the leader of the UN Team Rosemary Lane.
Caption: Group photograph with the UN Team during a courtesy visit to the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals recently in Abuja.
