Marginalisation of the Elderly

  By Sonnie Ekwowusi, This Day (Lagos) OPINION

Nigeria

August 28, 2007

The greatest obstacle to the building of a framework for human solidarity, which caters for every member of the society especially the elderly, is Western individualism. I don't know whether you have noticed that the number of elderly beggars in our streets has been increasing every day. Something happened the other day, which illustrates this point. I was standing by the roadside discussing with a friend when this elderly beggar in the age bracket of, say, 65 to 75 years, suddenly appeared from nowhere and started begging us for money. Looking at him closely, you could see that he was not the usual professional beggar we see on our streets.

Looking dignified in his fine apparel, we could see that he was somebody's father, uncle or brother. I tried to start a conversation with him, but he wasn't co-operating. My friend asked him for his names, but he kept mute. He stood there hands akimbo, speechless, all the time starring at us. After awhile my friend brought out some old Naira notes from his pocket and immediately the saddened face of the old man lit up. He sauntered forward, grabbed the money from my friend and briskly walked away in the opposite direction.

After he left, my friend engaged me in a conversation, which lasted for nearly an hour on gerontology. Why has the society turned its back against on the elderly? Specifically, why the elderly constantly being marginalized today? Employers of labour discriminate against old people in employment. They argue that old people have lost their productive capacities. In Nigeria most old pensioners have not been paid their pension. Many companies and banks only employ young people below 30. Some Nigerian banks employ young ladies with the explicit pre-condition that they must remain slim and never get pregnant and bear children in the course of their employment with the bank. This is sheer discrimination against womanhood.

There are all sorts of stereotypes about ageing and old age in the world. We are constantly being reminded that there is a crisis of aging in the world and that China is the most rapidly ageing country. In the year 2000 it was speculated that about 3% of old people above 65 were Africans. It is projected that by the year 2020 many rural areas in Africa will be over-populated by old people. The society wrongly marginalize old people because it evaluate the intrinsic dignity of old people by the goods they could produce or services they could render, forgetting that the dignity of old people transcends goods and services.

In his paper entitled: Ageing in Africa, Professor Nana Arab Apt explained that western urbanization and modernization have led to the breakdown of traditional social order and even undermined the traditional mechanisms in support and protection of the elderly. He also explained that marginalization of the elderly is caused by the erosion of individual values, attitudes and prevailing cultural order. According to him, there are conflicts between modern values and traditional values and these conflicts very often are resolved in favour of the former.

A well known sociologist called Burges also points out that some of the adverse effects of modernity and urbanization on old people in Africa include loss of their economic independence, giving up rural residence for urban residence, loss of employment, loss of their former favoured position in the village and in the extended family. The traditional rural society had an in-built protection and security for older persons to live a longer life. But regrettably rapid urbanization has displaced the elderly from their elderly status and places them at lowest wrung of the ladder.

In addition, monetization of the society has further made the elderly to lose the former enviable position. Since one's wealth becomes a measure of success, the nouveau rich are even consulted to advise the community on very important matters that require elderly advice. In my village, for example, old age is no longer synonymous with wisdom. Unless you are a money bag, nobody will listen to your opinion at a village meeting, your old age notwithstanding. A research carried out among the elderly in Nigeria many years ago showed that when some Nigerian older persons were asked to enumerate the kind of things that give them fulfillment in life, they mentioned money first. They did not mention those values like honour, wisdom, handwork, truthfulness etc that are usually associated with a respectable old age in the African society.

Ageing is an inevitable and inexorable process in life all over the world. So, why do we marginalize old people? Worst still, why encourage old people to die or why do some old people commit suicide or request to be assisted to die? Old people ought to be surrounded with affection. The elder is an educator and guidance of the young. He/she never loses his/her relevance. The elderly and young ought to engage in interactive and productive intercourse. The traditional African community was endowed with "safety nets" for the protection of old people. Old people should not be seen as nuisance to the society, instead they should be seen as great assets in the development of the society.

We must change our newly imbibed prejudices against old age and old people. Life is a matter of mutual respect and benefit. Nobody is a useless consumer or a parasite. Both the oldies and young are partners in progress. I like this Ghanaian proverb that says that when elders take care of the young while the young cut their teeth; the young must in turn take care of the oldies while they (oldies) are losing their teeth. Or this other Ghanaian proverb that says: "The hands of a child cannot reach the shelf nor can the hands of elders get through the neck of the gourd on the shelf". meaning that life is a matter of mutual assistance and benefit. Both the old and young are needed in the society to support one another.

The greatest obstacle to African communalism, as I said earlier is Western individualism. But the traditional African society had an in-built social welfare system that protected both the young and old in such a natural way that the elders were not seen as parasites in the community of the young. There was no question of isolation of older people because they played an indispensable role in the building of the traditional community. In those days it was rare to see elderly beggars in the streets. But today things have changed. With the supplanting of traditional African social welfare system by modernization, our oldies are now being marginalized and our old pensioners are dying in droves. The oldies need us as much we need them. So we must not allow them to turn into street beggars.

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