Caring for vulnerable among us

Hajia Hadiza Mohammed

Sir: The corona virus pandemic has brought to the fore the yearning need to identify and reach out to the vulnerable groups amongst us. When the federal government released the much-publicized palliatives to the vulnerable people in the country, it was a toggle trying to identify those to be classified as the vulnerable group in the country.

With impoverished economy and induced poverty coupled with inequality and skewed distribution of life essentials, the number of vulnerable group is increasing at alarming rate.

In the absence of social security and the increasing rate of crime and insecurity, the army of the vulnerable groups is indeed swelling by the day raising concerns among well-meaning individuals.

It is no news that Nigeria is now the poverty headquarters of the world with over 60% of the population living below the poverty line.

As rightly observed by practitioners, the vulnerable groups are, “people who require special attention with regard to well-being and safety, including persons who cannot advocate for their own needs, such as children, prisoners and the cognitively impaired”.

Ironically, these groups of special individuals that require care most times scarcely get them. Instead they are treated with scorn and all sort of indignity.

In the hands of the society they face rejection, stigmatization, segregation, discrimination, deprivation, humiliation, de-humanization, neglect, abuse, hatred, and disappointment, and oppression, social and material lack.

Indeed, the consequences of neglecting the vulnerable population reverberate in many dimensions like increase in crime, social vices, child-abuse, child-molestation, human trafficking, misery, human rights abuse, poor national productivity.

Many factors justify the call for identifying and caring for the vulnerable among us. It is a patriotic as well as ethical and moral duty. There is strong ethical and moral basis for protecting the vulnerable groups.

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There is also compelling socio-political reasons to seek out and care for the vulnerable group among us.  Caring for the vulnerable is a way of upholding the dignity of the individual and their right to life and happiness.

Caring for them will save life and engender peace in human society. By nurturing and supporting those who are young and skillful, national productivity would be enhanced.

The world needs care-givers, volunteers and donors to work to uplift those living in anguish, emotionally, physically and materially.

The growing population of the emotionally impaired, economically impoverished, environmentally displaced and violently imperiled calls for a concerted effort to tackle the problem. We need a ministry, an agency, a commission for the vulnerable.

The NGOs, the religious organizations must double their effort to tackle the problem. Corporate bodies can do their Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR) by donating for the cause of the vulnerable groups for the peace of the human society.

Let us join hands and collectively lift the vulnerable individuals among us and make the world a better place for us all.

• Hajia Hadiza Mohammed, London, UK.