Changing Roles Of The Aged In Bende, Abia State Nigeria

The Aged in the traditional Nigerian society were highly revered, respected and often seen as the custodian of knowledge. However, the influence of modernization introduced new institutions such as the churches, schools and the judiciary with responsibilities related to that of the aged thus replacing the roles of the aged and consequently their privileges. Thus, the aged has no significant roles to play in the modern society and the routine of waking up every day without doing anything depresses their state of mind, and reduced their social relevance in the society. It is recommended that government should adopt a national policy on the care, respect and the well-being of the aged by setting up institutions at the national, state and local government levels.

Peter Chukwuma Ezeah is a senior lecturer and presently the Head of Department of Sociology/Anthropology Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, Anambra state Nigeria. He has four books in different sub-specialties of Sociology and many articles in scholarly journals. His research focus are in population and family studies, gender, and heath sociology.