By Faith Yahaya, Abuja

The Federal Government has said it is planning to conduct a census of aged persons across the country.

The Director General of the National Senior Citizen Centre, Emem Omokaro, who stated this in Abuja, explained that the census would help the centre to meet the various challenges of older persons.

Omokaro said research had revealed that four out of six older persons are abused by their caregivers.

To address the abuses and other challenges faced by older persons, she said the centre would develop a five-year implementation plan.

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Speaking at an event to mark the World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, Omokaro said: “We will work with the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) to conduct a national multi-indicator survey on ageing and older persons.

“For all these years, older persons have been left out of any kind of national survey.

“So, we do not have a database of the older persons. A national survey will help us to build a database that will help us to know where they are, their socio-economic status, their medical conditions, and everything about them.”

On some plans the centre has for older people, she said: “We will set up health and social care programmes. We have primary health care centres. Over the years, they have been focused on maternal and childcare. But now, the centre will work very closely with the National Primary Health Care (NPHC) to ensure that the health care centres are modified to include care for the elderly.”