President of the UN General Assembly, Prof. Tijjani Muhammad-Bande says the global body is committed to promoting the welfare of the ordinary people, especially older people in the society.
Muhammad-Bande said this while speaking in an interview in Abuja, in response to a question on the legacy he hopes to leave after his one year tenure as the President of the UN General Asembly.
“I think for us it’s not an issue just of legacy. I think we will continue to the very last day to do what is right in relation to what we’ve said we are going to do whether they make the headlines or not.
“We want to make sure we do things that really affect ordinary people. This is what is important for us really. We just want to make sure we use the opportunity, the privilege given us. We will do everything in our power to promote that.
“We have gotten a lot of support I can tell you from Nigeria and from other countries.
“In fact all countries have supported us and we will do our best to push forward the agenda of inclusion, climate change, quality education, and poverty eradication,” he said.
According to Muhammad-Bande, it is unfortunate that elderly people are often overlooked and as an intricate part of the United Nations goal on inclusion, the discourse is of necessity.
“I think it’s part of a broader conversation concerning categories of individuals that are usually excluded.
“The aged suffer a certain form of disconnection.
“With the UN pushing the idea of leaving no one behind, it’s important to look at those segments of society that are at times overlooked and they have challenges that are unique to them. The exclusion of the aged is an issue.
“Certainly in some states there are efforts even in Nigeria to give support to the elderly.
“It is an African conversation in which NGOs are also involved in West Africa and other parts of Africa also.
“It is an issue concerning inclusion of categories of individuals who have been overlooked and they have real needs for support,” he added.
According to the UN, On average, the poverty level for persons among the over-75 years of age, across countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is 14.7 per cent, which is 3.5 per cent higher than the poverty level among 66 to 75 year-olds.
The “oldest-old”, aged 80 years or over, are less able to work than younger older persons; are more likely to have spent their savings; and are most in need of age-appropriate health and long-term personal care services.
Globally, the number of the “oldest-old” is growing even faster than the numbers of older persons overall. As a result, the share of people aged 80 years or over is increasing virtually everywhere and is projected to more than triple to 434 million by 2050, when two out of three oldest-old persons will live in developing regions.
Access to social security in old age is closely associated with existing gender inequalities.
While this may partly be due to gender-biased design of pension schemes, it is more significantly a result of women’s lower labour force participation, the large number of women who are self-employed, and the fact that women often have shorter and interrupted careers due to child bearing and rearing.
This is evident where pension systems in many countries fail to meet the needs of men and women equitably; with contributory pension coverage often significantly lower for women.
As a result, research findings from sub-Saharan Africa show that households headed by older women, whether single, divorced or widowed, are more prone to poverty than households headed by older men, especially in parts of the region that are patriarchal.
Similarly, in developed countries, older women living alone/in one-person households are more likely than men to be living in
poverty.
In many countries, the survivor benefits paid through a husband’s contributory pension are the only source of income for older women.
The risk of increasing old-age poverty rates is serious unless policy changes are made.
Over the next 35 years, the population aged 60 and over is forecasted to more than double its size reaching nearly 2.1 billion.
In 2015, there are 602 million people aged 60 years or over living in developing countries, and 298 million older persons residing in more developed regions.
Their numbers are projected to grow reaching 1 billion and 375 million respectively in 2030 – the target date for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Muhammad-Bande is in Nigeria to attend a Regional Expert Conference on the Human Rights Situation of Older Persons in Africa as an Inter-sessional Event of the United Nations General Assembly Open-ended Working Group on Ageing.
The event which holds on Nov. 25, is for the purpose of strengthening the protection of the human rights of older persons. (NAN)
