Perpetua Egesimba

A non-governmental organisation, Olori Aderonke Omolola Erinle (OAOE) Foundation, will soon unveil an adult care centre comprising an old people’s home and a fashion line to cater for vulnerable elder citizens.

Founder of OAOE, Mrs Aderonke Erinle said the home would provide a decent and wholesome environment for the aged that are vulnerable in the society.

According to Erinle, the Adult Care Centre would be formally inaugurated on September 14. To ensure smooth and seamless admittance of the aged into the home, the centre would be working in partnership with the Lagos State government.

“With our motto, which is “Positively Affecting Lives,” our mission is to dispense total care by providing financial assistance and emotional support to the vulnerable.

“Also, our vision is touching lives, creating change, redefining hope and dispensing hope, as we engage help and grant all forms of support to the aged.”

She explained further that anybody coming into the home will have to pass through the state government.

“We will put measures in place to make sure that the aged get the adequate care they deserve and have enough personnel of the aged. At 70 and above, our elderly ones who might have become vulnerable, need to be looked after properly and placed under proper supervision,” she said.

According to Erinle, the foundation was borne out of the passion she has for the elderly. She said she watched her late mother as she took care of her grandparents, tending and attending to their everyday needs.

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“It was this that I grew with. And after the death of my grandfather, particularly, this led me to adopt the idea of caring for the elderly in my church. From there, I took it into the larger society. It was this attitude of mine way back that gave birth to the foundation and the plan to open the adult care centre,” she informed.

She urged members of the public as well as corporate organisations to key into the project by sponsoring the foundation at its charity and fundraising ball coming up next month.

A member of the Board of Governors of OAOE, Venerable Folarin Shobo, said the society lacked provisions for the older citizens to live comfortable lives as they continue to grow.

“This is why there is no retirement age in our system. Forget the formal 60 to 70 years. It’s only on paper. We still see people above 80 years going to work and driving on the roads. This is because our country has no clear policy for the older citizens.”

He lauded the initiative of the foundation and urged the government to create and implement policies that would make older citizens to live respectable lives since they had laboured at a younger age.

“The aged needs to be entitled by right to some government attention that will make life bearable for them. Make and implement policies that will make transportation and healthcare easy for them. We are going to do the best we can to assist the government to formulate policies that will help families to have functional homes,’’ he stated.

The Olori Aderonke Omolola Erinle Foundation is a non-governmental organisation that advocates and propagates the need to help, invigorate and rehabilitate senior citizens.

Besides catering to the needs of vulnerable senior citizens, the reporter gathered that the foundation is actively involved in various charity programme geared toward assisting widows, motherless children and the physically challenged.