The study examines variations in old age support in an urbanising society of South-western
Nigeria. This study is necessary because old people have numerous problems and are not
properly cared for by the Nigerian society. Till date, there is no specific policy implementation
that is presently addressing the care of the elderly in Nigeria. The study covered thirteen Local
Government Areas and ten Local Council Development Areas in Lagos state and eleven Local
Government Areas in Oyo state. In addition, five in-depth interviews were conducted (three and
two in Lagos and Oyo states respectively) while four Focus Group Discussions were conducted
(two in each state). The In-depth interviews were conducted among the stakeholders (the
managers of public, private and church owned old people’s homes in South-western Nigeria. The
four Focus Group Discussions were conducted among the family care givers in the study areas.
In both Lagos and Oyo states, the total sampled aged respondents are 938. Both qualitative and
quantitative research techniques were adopted in data gathering. Quantitative data were analyzed
using univariate, bivariate and one-way variance analyses (F-ratios).
The four major findings of this study are as follows: The first findings showed that there are
apparent variations in the preference for public care support among the selected sociodemographic
variables of respondents. In essence, the respondents’ age, education, marital
status, employment status, religious affiliation, ethnicity and means of livelihood and usual place
of residence showed apparent variations in generally low-preferences for public care support in
the study areas. The second findings revealed that marriage type (p=0.000), educational
attainment (p=0.000), employment status (p=0.003), religious affiliation (p=0.000), means of
livelihood (p=0.000) and usual place of residence (p=0.000) are significantly influencing the
relatively high-preferences for family care support in the study locations. The third finding
shows that there are more significant variations among the elderly in their preference for family
care than public care support. In-fact, marital status (p=0.026), religious affiliation (p=0.027),
and means of livelihood (p=0.015) have low significant effects on preference for public care
support. Fourthly, that the elderly demand mainly medical and physical support vis-à-vis
financial support.
xv
In spite of the generally low preference for public care support among the elderly in Southwestern
Nigeria, a major reason why public institutional care cannot be ruled out in the society is
because of the stage of its demographic transition where we are experiencing a bulge of the
working age population which will soon translate into an ageing population when the extended
family support will eventually be inadequate as other family members will likely be away from
home, for work or on account of building new nuclear family elsewhere.
Even though this study showed that family care is preferred to public care at this point in time,
on account of the factors earlier stated, a form of public care which can be community-based in
order to take care of the extended family relations should be considered as a desirable social
institution any time from now.