Buhari committed to older persons’ welfare, targets 200,000 for COVID-19 cash transfer

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajia Sadiya Umar Farouq said, President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration is committed to older persons welfare.

She noted that about 200,000 of them have been targeted across the nation for COVID-19 cash transfer.

Speaking at the National Senior Citizens Center (NSCC) diring a maiden Dialogue in Abuja on Monday in Abuja, the Minister charged the Centre to come up with framework that will address the challenges of the poor and vulnerable amongst them.

The theme of the event is Leveraging Senior Citizens’ Partnership for Effective Service Delivery.

The Minister said, “The now instituted Older Persons Safety-net Programme, which targets very poor and vulnerable older persons, attest to the commitment of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to age-inclusive development.

“I encourage the senior citizens to let your voices be heard by your unreserved participation, in keeping with the theme and objectives of today’s Senior Citizens’ Forum Maiden Dialogue which are indicative that, the National Senior Citizens Center intends to forge and leverage strong partnership with senior citizens to effectively deliver on its mandate” She added.

The Director General of the National Senior Citizens Center, Dr Emem Omokaro noted that population categories of older persons is diverse and stressd the need for a detailed data to help the agency cater for their various needs.

On his part, the National Cordinator,National Social Safety-Net Cordinating Office (NASSCO) Lorwa Apera, said out of the 35 million individuals captured in the social register across the 36 states and the FCT, 4% representing 2 million individuals are senior citizens.