Using ICT to live and age gracefully

Most people, after retirement, face the difficult decision of what to do with themselves after being in active service for the greater and productive part of their lives. Some are fortunate and would have planned and amassed a fortune and are therefore able to live off their savings while others wallow in poverty. But research […]

Most people, after retirement, face the difficult decision of what to do with themselves after being in active service for the greater and productive part of their lives. Some are fortunate and would have planned and amassed a fortune and are therefore able to live off their savings while others wallow in poverty.

But research has shown that most retirees or elderly persons do not live long once they leave active service, most die from boredom, ill health or just old age.

Dr Ike Adinde, the Chief Executive Officer of Digital Bridge Institute (DBI), however, explained that the scenario can change and be managed to ensure that elderly persons get to live longer and still remain relevant in the society.

He said that with the help of ICT, the aging individuals can access information that can help them outlive even the younger generation, just by having adequate information at their finger tips.

Adinde, who explained that the institute is presently in a partnership with the International Federation of Ageing in Nigeria (IFAN), added that the partnership will expose to the elderly the enormous benefits they can achieve through ICT.

 “We see old people becoming totally excluded from the information age due to the rapid advancement in information technology. Today we are talking about inclusive growth, and the only way we can bring them on board is to leverage ICT so that older people get to understand and share the benefits of the new information age driven by ICT.

“IFAN is focusing on the veterans. Among other retiree groups in Nigeria, the veterans constitute an important segment of older people in the country,” he said.

He said the idea of leveraging ICT to manage the veterans’ information system is novel and innovative because they believe that deploying ICT to manage such a critical component of the society would go a long way in addressing a lot of social problems related to managing the elderly people, especially those who have dedicated their lives serving the country as military people. 

“So with the DBI resources and facilities, we will support this objective because we believe that it will contribute not only to our national development but also to enhancing the quality of life of the older people.

“One day we will all be old and the more we put structures, policies, procedures and systems to enhance the quality of life of our elderly people the better the society will be,” he said.  

However as with all other programmes in Nigeria, there is no accurate data to ascertain the actual number of aging persons in the country which Adinde says is a major setback.

“One of the major gaps that we have in managing elderly people is the lack of statistics, low coordinated comprehensive framework or system that clearly classifies them and identifies them and manages their interest. But with technology it is easy to build a database that recognizes and identifies them. With technology you can then begin to equip them with some knowledge and skills,” he said

Mr Ike Willie Nwobu, the coordinator of IFAN, explained that the association helps promote the ideals and agenda of the older and ageing persons.  

Nwobu said that IFAN is trying to look at the mandate of the UN as regards to aging and do some domestication in Nigeria and possibly adopt or adapt and see how they can create projects that will help the aging and aged in Nigeria.

Speaking on the event organized by IFAN and DBI to celebrate the World Ageing Day, Nwobu noted that the programme is meant to develop a policy and strategy for veterans, pensioners and retirees, because of the impending dangers.

Many people believe that Nigeria is losing a lot of its manpower resources because it has no programme to harness the potentials of this group once they leave active services.

Nwobu said, “It is a disaster to invest on knowledgeable people then towards the most productive part of their lives discard them, and amazedly these people have huge resources in terms of information and as custodian of the security of the country. 

“Unfortunately at the age of 65 when their experiences are to be harnessed, they are abandoned without any form of coordination or structure, this presents a dangerous dimension on the security process of the country, and also affects corruption,” he said.

 Retired AIG Emeka Alex Okeke, the chief executive officer in charge of the health maintenance organisation of the police, and a pensioner said the issues of retirees are compounded with the recent problems of the country. 

He said, “As an aged person who is retired, you want to begin to look at what is the retirement package, which includes considerable loss of income and in our system where the economy is not friendly, the recession. Things are not good, so you will expect that the retired person will have to grapple with loads of issues especially issues of his well being and that of his family.”

According to him, wellness is key and but it is something that has not being dealt with well as a major issue in our society. 

“We know the affects of chronic diseases, like hypertension, diabetes and the rest of them, and the epidemic proportions that they are beginning to assume. Most people by the time they take the bend between 50 and 60, you begin to hear obituaries, most of them dying from ailments,” Okeke said. 

He added that most elderly persons’ ailments are money guzzlers and if not detected early, all the family’s resources is gobbled up trying to deal with them and at the end of the day, one may die leaving the family poorer. 

Mr Soji Adeniyi, a principal consultant, added that one of the major reasons Nigeria keeps having redundant retirees, is because after active service, retirees have nothing to look forward to. 

“Most of them want to amass as much wealth as possible through corruption. If we have a system that recognises the fact that everyone is going to age and put in place structures to address those aging needs, then when people are aging they don’t have to worry about getting everything for themselves and so do less corrupt things while in service,” he said.