Social support, older adults and poverty: Implication for social policy in Nigeria

Improvement in living conditions and better health care services achieved in past decades has contributed to emergent surge in the population of older adults across the globe. Nigeria is the most populated country in Africa and also records the highest population of older adults hitherto. This is a clear indication that Nigerian population is also ageing faster with significant effect on economic, health and social life of all age groups hence the social policy that addresses the wellbeing of older adults in Nigeria is important. Consequent upon this, most Nigerian families resort to taking care of their older adults by seeing to their needs with relatively limited resources at their disposal. However, with the seeming decline in traditional family support, lives of older adults are filled by inadequacies, squalor, and growing vulnerability to poverty and diseases. Emphatically, the poverty situation of older adults in Nigeria is alarming with many living below poverty line. This calls for immediate attention from Nigerian government. Thus, the paper discusses social policy against traditional social support as a buffer to ameliorate the influx of poverty ravaging Nigerian older adults. The paper also revealed some other countries that have toed the line of social policy for their older adults and the benefits they accrued from it. The paper concludes that implementation of viable social policy will to a large extent reduce the rate of poverty against older adults, improve their wellbeing and state of health and in turn promote national security.