A lot of Edo state indigenes may never know what retirement is. When asked, the old folks who are still on the street fighting for the same non-existent income with the youths would tell you of how they’d love to sit at home attending to little domestic chores while caring for their grandchildren.
This is the ideal in every sane society where there’s even a pre-retirement stage before the actual retirement. Some senior citizens who feel they are due for retirement tend to take things easy; a part-time job if they are not too eager to face the boredom that comes with a permanent stay at home.
This was how it was in the old Edo State. Shocking right? – Yes, I know it sounds farfetched today, but it was once like this. Back in the 80s and early 90s when our parents who worked for the state government slept and snored at night, knowing that they had retirement savings coupled with gratuity and pension that gets paid regularly and at when due.
Osadolo Idemudia, 71 years old, has been a trailer driver for 40 years, spending long hours on the road, away from his Ekenwan home and his 2 wives and 13 children, to earn a living and save some for the day he decides to stop driving. Osadolo’s waist is gone, and his back too. He is always in pains that he can’t walk straight- the consequences of years on the road. He knows that the constant waist and back pain can only worsen, and this is continuously at the back of his mind.
What Osadolo prays for now for his beloved Edo state and Orhionmwon/Uhunmonde constituency where he comes from is Change. Osadolo has never voted in any election since the 80s, but he sees the coming 2023 election as a make or break for his state and constituency.
I met Mr. Osadolo Idemudia last week and assured him of a lady, Ivie Idahosa, who I met on my most recent trip to the US – New Jersey to be precise. Fortunately for Mr. Osadolo, she has decided to run for Orhionwonmwon/Uhunmwonde Federal Constituency- his constituency.
I wasn’t surprised that Osadolo says he knows the Idahosa family very well, but he doesn’t quite remember this lady in particular. He however knows it is a good family and would love to hear the changes that Ivie can bring to Orhionwonmwon/Uhunmwonde.
My encounter with Ivie Idahosa opened me to the fact that there are citizens of Edo state who are not only tired of the statusquo, but are willing to do something about it, even if it means leaving their comfortable lives abroad and move down to help Edo State attain the same standard of living that people abroad enjoy.
I called Ivie after my encounter with Osadolo and asked her opinion and what she thought of his fears of retirement. And she acknowledged that despite all that senior citizens of Edo State and Orhionwonmwon/Uhunmwonde constituency have done in contribution to the growth of the state and the constituency, it is still sad to see that they continue to be neglected.
“With all that is being said, it is clear that older people of the state and my constituency have been forgotten,” she said. “Although some are trying their very best to survive, it is something they shouldn’t be left to do on their own and that is where the government of the state and localities have to come in,” she continued. “In other climes, there is what is known as Social Security – our senior citizens shouldn’t have to worry about things like food and good healthcare. They shouldn’t have to go back on the streets to work to make ends meet even at their very old age. On top of that, big life events, such as unforeseen medical expenses can send the elderly to their early graves – we shouldn’t live in a system where that is the case.”
It will be quite interesting to see how Ivie Idahosa will perform when elected into office. She is part of that youthfulness we have been clamouring for so long to be allowed in governance. Her ideas are ground breaking for a society like ours – and if allowed will no doubt bring about the change we need, not just in Edo State, but in the country at large.
We at Federal Character are determined to follow the campaign of every youth that will be running for election come 2023.
