Nigerians urge help for the elderly

Some philanthropists have called on the government to embrace social and charity work to assist elderly citizens in the country.

They made the call at a charity event, Show The Elderly Love 2015, organised By Dr. Kola Edun, in Lagos on Wednesday.

The event, targeted at the elderly in the society, featured activities like free medical treatment and provision of food items.

Speaking at the event, Edun, said his aim was to show acts of kindness to the elder citizens in the country, while calling on the government to do same.

Edun stated, “What we have done is to show love to the elderly because we cannot expect the government to do everything for us. We have also done the One-Meal-A-Day programme where we fed children in primary schools. It turned out to have a tremendous impact on the performance of the pupils. We only kick-started it and we are happy that the present administration has keyed into it as one of its goals.

“We hope that the government can take this up too. We are not trying to sell it to the government. Ours is to kick-start the programme. We hope they will channel some efforts to the elderly citizens in the country. We are not used to the old people’s homes that are common in the western world.”

(Punch)