Farounbi, others advocate homes, care for old people

Some prominent personalities have called on governments at all levels to put policies in place for proper care and protection of older persons.

Speaking during the dedication service and commissioning of Hebron Love Elders’ Home, in Ibadan Oyo State, the former Nigerian envoy to the Philippines, Dr. Yemi Farounbi said aged people are assets that any nation should not toy with.

Founder of the home, Mrs. Elizabeth Aina-Scott, and other noptable personalities such as Reverend Sola Kolade, Reverend (Dr.) Mike Ayo-Obiremi, Mrs. Shade Haastrup and Princes Shade Lana-Bankole, cited  other climes, especially in the Western and Asian countries where values and cares for the aged are top priority.

According to Dr. Farounbi, whether we like it or not, everyone aspiring to live long will get old and it is important for us to make necessary provisions that will take care of older people.

The former envoy while commending the effort of Mrs. Aina-Scott for putting such home in place for service of older people said: “Policies that must involve government and private partnership are needed to carter for older people because in the past we  always gathered together to take care of our old people but today things have changed.

“People are scattered around seeking for means of survival and so you discover that the father and mother, who have laboured to train the children are abandoned, not because the children wanted to, but the exigencies of life and present state of economy warrant it.

“We now have parents who have property but they do not have anyone to stay and take care of them in their old age.”

Farounbi said in such homes like the Hebron Love Elders’ Home, older people can meet, interact and share experiences and even enjoy Christian and or Muslim fellowship, rather than staying alone in a very big house, which they have built where they can no longer climb the staircase.

Speaking on what motivated her into investing in such homes for the elderly, Mrs Aina-Scott, said: “Loneliness in older age could be very frustrating and often leads to death.

“The journey of the home was not premeditated nor born out of ambition. It was planned, executed and dropped on the laps of the founder/President of Hebron Love and Care centre.

“While the elders around me were adored, loved and cared for, it was not even the least of my ambition to have a Home for elders.”