By-Ifeoluwa Akinola
The Director-General National Senior Citizens Centre, Dr Emem Omokaro, has tasked other African countries to accelerate the legal framework that would support and protect the rights of older citizens through the Madrid Plan of Action on Ageing (MIPAA)
Omokaro, while representing Nigeria at the 61st session of the Commission for Social Development (CSocD61) in New York on Wednesday, 9th February 2023, said that the MIPPA policy would work better with a strong legal framework.
She identified a major challenge in implementing the plan: the need for national legislation requiring the establishment of statutory coordinating entities on ageing and a poor financing strategy.
Omokaro believes the MIPPA policy is significant because it is aligned with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Elderly. The African Union’s national and regional planning and ageing frameworks must be aligned with MIPAA.
She cited Nigeria as an example of a country that has provided legal support for MIPPA, pointing out that the National Senior Citizens Center in Nigeria’s focus on ageing is evidence of the need for a legal framework.
“For MIPAA to move forward, there has to be legal backing; Nigeria is an example; for a long time, 20 years, we didn’t know what MIPAA was; we never used MIPAA; but with the National Senior Citizens Act and the setting up of a legal entity in charge of aging, there is no coordination.
“Now, there is multisectoral coordination, and review and appraisal of MIPAA was very easy, so African countries should emphasise the establishment of legal frameworks to back up policies framework,’
“There cannot be a dichotomy; when you have a strong policy framework, there has to be a strong legal framework,” she stated.
Omokaro also said that technology would help older people in a big way and speed up the implementation of MIPAA. “African countries should embrace technology,” she said.
“It should embrace technology to assist its aging population in remaining economically and socially active, gaining access to health and other services, and living independently and with dignity,” Omokaro emphasised.
She revealed that about one-third of African countries (18) had developed comprehensive National Policies on Ageing, strategies and various programmes to implement the targets set in the three priority areas.
She noted that some had advanced quite well in implementing the various priority areas of MIPAA while others had yet to go beyond the phase of formulating strategies.
She added that the MIPAA review in the African region revealed that implementation needed to catch up due to a lack of awareness and utilisation of MIPAA as a policy instrument.
“Nine of the eleven countries that reported significant progress in MIPAA implementation had enacted laws that clearly established the entitlements of older people.”
“They put a duty of care on public institutions to promote the rights and well-being of older persons,” she said.
NAN reports that MIPAA is the first international agreement that commits governments to link ageing questions to other social and economic development and human rights frameworks.
The MIPAA policy was made in 2002, and it focuses on three main areas: older people and development; improving health and well-being for older people; and making sure environments are helpful and enabling. It also urges governments to include older people in policy development.
One hundred fifty-nine governments have backed the MIPAA, but it is not a law, and its implementation is up to each country. A participatory review of the plan is organised every five years, in which older people’s involvement is encouraged.
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