NHRC warns older Nigerians face poverty, abuse and neglect, urging stronger healthcare, pensions, social protection and age-friendly support systems.
Nigeria’s growing population of older persons is confronting a social protection system that remains ill-equipped to guarantee their dignity, security, and independence, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has warned.
The commission said on Tuesday that poverty, inadequate income, weak social protection, limited access to healthcare, delayed pensions, social isolation, age discrimination, abandonment, abuse, and property dispossession were leaving many older Nigerians vulnerable.
Executive Secretary of NHRC, Dr Tony Ojukwu, who raised the concerns in Abuja at the commission’s commemoration of the 2026 International Day of Older Persons, said Nigeria must fundamentally rethink its policies, institutions, and social protection systems to respond to longer lives.
The commemoration, held under the theme, “The Age of Longevity: Rethinking Systems for Longer Lives,” brought together government institutions, civil society organisations, and other stakeholders to examine the rights and welfare of older persons.
Ojukwu said the increasing length of human life should be regarded as an achievement rather than a burden. But he warned that longevity would have little meaning if additional years were characterised by poverty, ill-health, insecurity, neglect, and exclusion.
He said the critical question for Nigeria was no longer simply how long its citizens lived, but whether they could live their later years in good health, dignity, security, equality, and the ability to participate meaningfully in society.
“Older persons are right holders and active members of our society, and their voices must be reflected in decisions and policies that affect their lives,” he said.
The NHRC boss rejected the perception of older persons as merely dependent recipients of assistance, stressing that they remain parents, grandparents, professionals, entrepreneurs, farmers, community leaders, caregivers, mentors, and custodians of culture and institutional memory.
He said their contribution to national development should be recognised and protected through policies that allowed them to remain active and independent for as long as possible.
Ojukwu said the protection of older persons was fundamentally a human rights issue, stating that growing older does not strip anyone of the rights guaranteed under the constitution and international human rights instruments.
He listed the rights to include dignity, equality and non-discrimination, life, healthcare, social security, adequate living standards, family life, property, participation, access to justice and freedom from violence, abuse, exploitation, and neglect.
He said Nigeria already had a legal and policy foundation for protecting older persons through the constitution, the National Human Rights Commission Act, National Senior Citizens Centre Act, and National Policy on Ageing.
He also cited the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; United Nations Principles for Older Persons; Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing; African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights; and Protocol to the African Charter on the Rights of Older Persons in Africa as important instruments underpinning the rights of older people.
Ojukwu disclosed that international discussions were ongoing towards the development of a dedicated convention on the Rights of Older Persons, which he said would strengthen the global framework for protecting the elderly.
“Why should older persons not have a convention?” he asked, stating that older people deserve a dedicated international legal instrument, just as children and persons with disabilities have specific conventions protecting their rights.
The NHRC executive secretary said ageing did not affect all Nigerians in the same way, with some groups facing significantly greater risks.
He identified older women, particularly widows, as vulnerable to discriminatory cultural practices, inheritance disputes, poverty, and gender discrimination.
Older persons living with disabilities, those in rural communities, people living alone, and elderly Nigerians affected by displacement, poverty or humanitarian emergencies, he added, faced additional barriers.
“Ageing is not a single experience,” Ojukwu said, insisting that policies must reflect differences in gender, disability, economic circumstances, location, health and social conditions.
He warned against a culture in which elderly people were excluded from decisions affecting their own lives because relatives assumed they knew what was best for them.
Using his family as an example, he recalled how his family had once considered relocating his mother to the United States because most of his siblings lived there.
She eventually returned because she was uncomfortable with the cold weather, Ojukwu said.
For Ojukwu, the experience illustrated the need to listen to older persons before making decisions on their behalf.
He said, “Talk to them and find out what they want. You’ll be surprised that what they want may even be easier for you to provide than what you are thinking for them.”
Ojukwu said NHRC was strengthening its institutional response to the challenges confronting older persons through advocacy, public enlightenment, monitoring, investigation of complaints, stakeholder engagement, and capacity building.
He disclosed that the commission had established and trained older persons’ desk officers across its state offices to bring ageing-related issues closer to communities nationwide.
Ojukwu said NHRC was also engaging stakeholders on implementation of the African regional framework on the rights of older persons, while strengthening responses to elder abuse and other violations.
He called for a broader change in societal attitudes towards ageing, warning against stereotypes that equate old age with incapacity, dependency, or lack of productivity.
The executive secretary said, “Growing older is a natural part of the human life cycle. The dignity of a person does not diminish because of age.”
He urged the media to play a greater role by exposing abuse and neglect, holding duty bearers accountable and highlighting the contributions of older persons rather than portraying them exclusively as vulnerable dependants.
President of Civil Society for the Rights of Older Persons in Nigeria (COSROPIN), Senator Eze Ajoku, said the country must move beyond annual celebrations and translate policies on ageing into concrete action.
Ajoku called for stronger healthcare, social protection, housing, transportation, pensions, employment and community support systems.
He also advocated greater investment in geriatric healthcare, caregiver support, lifelong learning and age-friendly communities, as well as the meaningful participation of older persons in decision-making.
Describing older persons as “rights-holders, not recipients of charity alone,” Ajoku said their contributions to Nigeria’s development must be recognised.
“Let us move from celebration to action, from policy to implementation, and from ageing with vulnerability to ageing with dignity,” he said.
Michael Olugbode
Follow us on:
Easily access major global news with a strong focus on Africa. As well as the main stories of the day, we like to accentuate positive stories about Africa across all genres including Politics, Business, Commerce, Science, Sports, Arts & Culture, Showbiz and Fashion.
We broadcast 24 hours a day from our studios in London and New York and can be seen here in the UK and across Europe on the Sky platform (Sky channel 516), Freeview (Channel 136) as well as in the USA on the Centric channel and also on the Hot bird platform, which transmits to Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.
© 2026 Arise News – Arise Global Media Ltd
About the Author
