Dr Betta Edu, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, says President Bola Tinubu has directed her ministry to reserve 10 per cent of social security web intervention for older individuals.
This was contained in an announcement issued on Thursday by her Media aide, Mr Rasheed Zubair, in Abuja.
It acknowledged that the minister was talking throughout a stakeholders’ assembly to commemorate the 2023 (*10*) Day of Older Persons in Nigeria.
“Mr President has directed that my Ministry should set aside 10% of social safety net intervention programmes for older persons in the country.
“The rights of senior citizens in the areas of job security, health, livelihood, agriculture and other development planning must be considered.
“Presently, older persons are said to be about 14.8 million out of the entire population, that is why the President directed that in all our social welfare interfaces older persons must be involved,” she stated.
Edu assured the senior residents of the federal authorities’s resolve to present them with mandatory help in the direction of bettering the standard of their lives.
“The President also directed that those who are under the poverty line must be assisted and captured in the social interventions programmes.
“We would inaugurate two of such social intervention programmes with emphasis on senior citizens because we will be providing for senior citizens who are affected by humanitarian crises,” she stated.
