In Nigeria, age has become a sentence, not a stage of honor. Elders, once the custodians of wisdom and history, now navigate a labyrinth of neglect, isolation, and inadequate care. The streets and homes of our cities and villages are littered with the invisible victims of systemic indifference; seniors citizens struggling with loneliness, poverty, and chronic illness, left to fend for themselves while the machinery of state and society looks elsewhere.
Aside financial and health care, technology offers a sliver of hope abroad, yet in Nigeria, such innovations remain largely aspirational. Countries like South Korea deploy AI-powered companions like “robo-grandmas”, to provide emotional support and health monitoring to their isolated elderly. Here, elders sit alone, medication unremembered, meals skipped, and mental health deteriorating. The juxtaposition is jarring: a nation rich in human capital yet impoverished in empathy.
This is not simply a health crisis; it is a moral indictment. We incarcerate our frailty in neglect, while a younger generation pursues rapid urbanization, political ambition, and digital distraction. One in three Nigerian seniors lives alone; many grapple with depression, anxiety, and the gnawing fear of becoming a burden. The death toll, silent yet inexorable, reflects a society that has redefined progress at the expense of humanity.
Government programs are piecemeal at best. Social welfare schemes are underfunded, understaffed, and poorly implemented. Community-based care is sporadic, and family support; once the bulwark of elder survival, erodes under economic and social pressures. The elderly remain vulnerable, invisible, and voiceless, trapped in a twilight where neither policy nor tradition fully reaches.
Time is the crucible in which a nation’s conscience is tested. Nigeria stands at a crossroads: continue the trajectory of neglect and witness the erosion of human dignity, or confront the discomfort of responsibility, invest in eldercare infrastructure, and restore reverence to those who have built the nation. If we fail, the silent deaths of our elders will echo as the loudest indictment of our collective failure.
– Inah Boniface Ocholi writes from Ayah – Igalamela/Odolu LGA, Kogi state.
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