With the controversy over the stealing of pension funds by light-fingered minds of the scheme boiling over, Senator Oluremi Tinubu (ACN, Lagos) looks at the big picture and wades in with a bill seeking to establish the National Security Agency for aged folks in Nigeria. UCHENNA AWOM examines the development against the background of its wide appeal.
The Senate may have at last decided to shift attention from the rabid politicking that is perhaps the lot of presidential politics in a developing clime like Nigeria, to focus on pure social issues that have been begging for attention.
Coming quickly on the heels of the recently concluded public hearing on the very vexed issue of management of pension funds in Nigeria, is a Bill for an Act to establish the National Social Security Agency charged with the responsibility for among other things, providing financial assistance to the elderly persons in Nigeria and other related matters.
The bill, sponsored by Senator Oluremi Tinubu (ACN, Lagos), could ensure that the elderly are well catered for in the twilight of their life. The bill seeks to establish social security for elderly Nigerians. It was unanimously supported by Senators, who effortlessly pushed it beyond the crucial second reading on the senate floor penultimate week.
It’s perhaps not a mere coincidence that such a people oriented and culture-friendly bill came at a time mind-boggling revelations emerged on how some Nigerian civil servants milked pension funds meant for the country’s senior citizens who have diligently served this country in their younger ages.
It was a fitting irony that the only conscious effort, which straddles the colonial times, has become a honey comb for light-fingered government officers to press and leave these vulnerable folks of the society to die in hunger and with regret.
The rot is now throwing up an alternative in the bill, may be this time a safety net that will be strong enough to ward off future itchy fingers would be embedded in the new law to make it work.
The plight of elderly persons has for some time been a cause for great concern to some good natured charity organizations who probably, touched by the fate of these senior citizens, float some non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to lend a helping hand.
How far can they go as very few senior citizens are lucky to be benefited by the little benevolence of these NGOs? There is no doubt that paucity of funds would not allow them do more even if they so desire. Yet no decent society can afford to neglect its senior citizens and lay claim to any progress in the other spheres of its national life.
This is not to say that there are no social security measures in the country. There are some. Unfortunately, no government agency is specifically charged with the duty of taking care of the hordes of elderly persons that strive to make a living the hard way, despite their advancing age, fragile physique and associated weakness.
There lies the irony as schemes such as Nigeria’s pension system were meant to try to provide succour after long years of meritorious service for some elderly citizens who once worked in the formal sector. A greater number of senior citizens who contributed to the country’s economy through the informal sector are completely forgotten and neglected.
Senator Tinubu may have perhaps been propelled to ponder an alternative in realization of the need to redress this situation and she eventually came up with the bill. Who knows; perhaps to the lawmakers it is a late rally but yet a tacit admission that the welfare and well being of the senior citizens are the responsibility of the government and it is high time a formal system was put in place to give bite to the implementation of this all-important governmental role.
Leading debate on the general principles, Senator Tinubu told her colleagues that for ages, the cultural norms of “our society accorded much respect to old age, this trend has however been reversed in modern times”. The Social Security Bill she added comes in the face of growing inadequacy in customary/family support system and increasing poverty among the elderly.
The Bill according to her is founded on moral principles of helping the vulnerable in the society and on constitutional principles, which recognizes that government must direct its policy towards ensuring old age care and protection of the aged against moral and material neglect. As can be explained vividly in sections 16(2)(d) and 17(3)(f) of the Constitution}.
The Bill seeks to establish social security for elderly Nigerians whose labour had contributed to the Nigerian economy particularly in informal sectors, such as, the rural agrarian sector and who have no income to sustain themselves in old age.
“Many of the elderly have spent their productive years serving the nation and yet face poverty in twilight years because existing provisions of the Pensions Reforms Act, National Health Insurance Scheme Act and the National Social Insurance Trust Fund Act do not apply to them.
Nigeria, a nation that came into being with the 1914 colonialist amalgamation of the erstwhile Lagos colony and other parts of what was then the Southern Protectorate with the Northern Protectorate will be marking her first centennial anniversary in 2014.
“Throughout this period, there has never been any significant legislation for social safety nets to protect millions of frail but struggling elderly citizens. It is in the light of this, that this Bill is being sponsored.
“The importance of social security for the elderly cannot be over-emphasised. One of Nigeria’s goals is to become one of the world’s leading economies by the year 2020. Now, most of the world’s top twenty economies have functional social protection systems.
Without actualizing such scheme for Nigeria’s huge and socio-economically vulnerable population of ageing citizens, we may be unconsciously sustaining some of the indices that rank us low on human development. Addressing the existential challenges of elderly persons would be a significant step towards redressing some of our society’s collective challenges.
“The establishment of a National Social Security Agency to provide financial benefits for the elderly, who have no income or any form of income-generating investment is not to discriminate against income earners and pensioners but to fill in, a lacuna, by providing financial assistance to the excluded. The 7th Senate’s historical achievements should include the creation of this agency for an impactful role in the amelioration of the plight of our elderly citizens.
“Distinguished Senators by supporting the Bill you will be giving expression to the yearning of many Nigerians especially that of our former President, Umar Musa Yar’ Adua who set up the Dr. Yakubu Gowon-led National Working Committee on Social Security Policy. Among other recommendations it made in 2009, this committee called for the establishment of social security for elderly Nigerians.
Mr. President, my respected colleagues, the time to act is now. Rather than spreading our resources and ourselves thinly, a focused and impactful social security scheme such as this that targets a very vulnerable segment of our population will be a decisive step forward and in line with the 7th Senate’s avowal of being on an historic mission.
“Let us all rescue the elderly from the pitiable vicissitudes they contend with. I believe that addressing this aspect of the broader dimensions of empowerment will also attract more divine mercies for our great nation, she declared.
Senator Tinubu has touched the heart of parliament and her bill may become one of the fastest that could be assented to by President Goodluck Jonathan if the enthusiasm of Senators on the bill are anything to go by. Against this background, it’s worth recalling the poverty statistics in Nigeria as provided by notable world institutions with regards to the population configuration of the country and the pathetic position of the aged.
For example the elderly account for a large population of Nigeria’s poor according to a recent UNDP Human Development Index, which ranked Nigeria 156 out of 187 nations surveyed.
To underscore the importance and the overwhelming support base for the bill, Chairman, Senate Committee on Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Senator Smart Adeyemi (PDP,Kogi West)said the Bill is a welcome one and long overdue, especially in a nation where there is no social security in place. Such a bill he said will naturally have the sympathy and support of all those who are progressive minded.
“I went through the Bill and I believe that it captured the essence of the need for us to provide and care for the elderly. Once the agency is established it will equally minimize corruption in the country because when people are assured that on their old age the state can cater for them, to a large extent they will be patriotic.
“The problem we have in Nigeria today is that everybody is afraid of their old age, everybody is afraid of tomorrow because there is no social security in place to cater for people when they are tired and no longer in active service. So I support the Bill and I praise the sponsor of the Bill”, he added.
Also Chairman, Senate Committee on Information, Media and Public Affairs, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, threw his weight behind bill and doubted if any Senator will oppose it. “We support the Bill, we support anything that is done to support our aged. Let us hope that the Bill will help us to begin to set up a social security network in Nigeria. We support the Bill,” he said.
The bill is not doubt a tonic. Senator Oluremi Tinubu has clearly provided the needed elixir for the aged to begin to anticipate a better future by a caring nation they had served.