The group under the Greenlight Initiative is asking the Federal Government to understand that they must start planning and integrating decisions that will benefit and protect the lives of the elderly.
This comes as the initiative embarks on a 12-month research study on Mobility, Transport, and Aging in Low- and Middle-Income Countries with an emphasis on Nigeria and Uganda.
The Initiative is a non-profit organization that promotes health and wellness; safe and sustainable transport partnered with the Federal University of Technology Owerri and Makerere University, to conduct a 12-month study.
According to the Executive Director of the Initiative, Simon Obi, the study will be carried out because the available evidence shows that not much work has been done on the mobility and safety needs of the elderly, which should force urban developers and transport planners to give primary and special consideration in the design.
“Inclusive mobility is an important initiative that should be considered immediately in the early stages of planning and developing mobility services.
According to Mr. Obi, the twelve-month deep research was very difficult with several interviews, surveys in the two countries.
“After 12 months of in-depth research on the mobility patterns of the elderly, the GreenLight Initiative jointly organized a dissemination workshop for key stakeholders to review the research results.
“Research activities examine current transport choices and policies that affect older people’s mobility and how they affect, and are affected by, different factors, and take a broad, multidisciplinary view of these links.
“One of the things we often say is that many people are too busy in business in other fields and forget that they will grow old one day. This is an important sector that is often neglected in society.
“This is the reason for doing this research project. So in terms of policy, our research shows that there are not many policies that support the rights of parents in the country.
“We will all grow old one day. And we must prepare for the future, so we must first, so that the government can overcome this challenge. The government must understand that it must start planning and integrating decisions that will benefit and protect the lives of the elderly.
He also harped on the need for the government to be brave enough to start investing in infrastructure that supports the rights of the elderly “because of our road designs, what we see in these two countries shows they do not support the rights of the elderly.’
“So the government must invest in infrastructure, it must also provide a working environment for this category of people to live meaningfully.
He said the lack of policies and lack of infrastructure has always affected the elderly in Nigeria. “We do not have the structures and infrastructure that support well-being in our city.
“The government needs to step in and do something quickly because this is an emergency. We are losing our parents and we will all be old one day.
He said the focus on Nigeria and Uganda is because of the fact that in low and middle income countries such as our country and Uganda, these things are not talked about.
According to him, another developed climate, has infrastructure that supports the elderly.
“The mobility system supports them. They have a community transport system that supports the elderly. But in Africa especially Nigeria and Uganda, there is no policy and no transport network to support them.
Obi explained that the dissemination symposium emphasized the priority of not only promoting safe and sustainable transportation but also inclusiveness in mobility.
“I am confident that this study will increase knowledge and further assist policymakers, advocates, and transportation stakeholders in making evidence-based decisions about mobility and access for older adults.
“We continue to thank the Volvo Research and Educational Foundation (VREF) for their generous support which has enabled us to start this very important but often overlooked area.
According to Dr. Chinebuli Uzondu, Researcher/Lecturer from the Federal University of Technology Owerri: “It was a pleasant surprise. I am very excited and honored to be announced as a recipient of a grant from the Volvo Research and Educational Foundation (VREF).
“This grant enables us to work on a very important, but often neglected, problem. Our research has examined the mobility needs of the elderly in Nigeria and Uganda, to understand travel patterns, open travel patterns, available transport options, needs and barriers to active mobility.
“We identify country-specific challenges and provide evidence-based strategies and recommendations to address and improve the situation.
“This research is very important to me because I feel that VREF recognizes the importance of this research and how it can address issues of transport inequality and exclusion.
According to Dr. Paul I. Mukwaya, Senior Lecturer from the Department of Geography, Geo-informatics and Climate Sciences, Makerere University, Uganda: “For Makerere University, the grant is one that opens up new opportunities, locally and internationally, as we build for the future. The most important research has been brought to the front; not only, the type of transport inequality that the elderly experience is more specific, but also the disparity of transport privacy that exists in the city and / or national scale.
“We have been able to network with a number of national actors and talk about the issue of critical transport inequality in the City of Kampala.”