By A. M. Nasiru.
The Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Steel and Mines Development, Hon Abdullahi Ibrahim Halims on Wednesday called for public ownership of the move for a better and improved care for the elderly.
Hon Halims disclosed this in Abuja at a media briefing when he spoke on some of his activities on the floor of the house targeted at a better welfare for ordinary Nigerians and the elderly in particular.
According to him, the idea behind a bill for a law to establish the national council for elderly persons sponsored by him was to awaken and mobilise government as well as the citizens towards taking good and healthy care of the old whom he described as the foundation of life of all a able bodied men.
He said that elderly persons constituted about thirty percent of Nigeria’s population and are the foundation and strength of the nation’s past, hence, crucial to the society than meets the eye.
“The objectives of the bill are multifarious, but most important is to make government and the society to give the due and deserved human dignity of the old to them… To encourage government to take good care of the aged; provide them with basic care such as health and proper nutrition,’’ the Federal lawmaker said.
Hon Halims who represents Ankpa, Omala and Olamaboro federal Constituency of Kogi State also has to his credit the bill for a law to amend the NYSC establishment act, an act for the compulsory inclusion of security studies in secondary schools syllabus, another bill for constitutional studies among other motions and matter of national importance.
