For Nigeria’s Displaced Elderly People, Survival Comes With Cost

Instead, some are spending their later years in internally displaced persons camps after violence forced them from communities they may never return to.

At the Games Village IDP camp in Abuja, older men and women are dealing with losses that go beyond homes and livelihoods. Many live with chronic health conditions, reduced mobility, loneliness, and dependence on relatives who are also struggling. In some cases, adult children have left the camp to find work or return to their communities, leaving elderly parents behind because the camp feels safer or travel is too difficult. The result is a different kind of displacement: separation from the people who would normally provide care in old age.

A different kind of vulnerability

Displacement is difficult at any age, but for older people the loss of a home often means the loss of the networks that made daily life possible.

A farmer may no longer have land. A trader may have lost a business. A community leader may have no community left to lead. Someone who spent decades surrounded by neighbours can suddenly be living among strangers.

Rebuilding is also harder. Younger displaced people may find work and regain independence. For an elderly person with limited strength or chronic illness, that path may be closed. The focus shifts from rebuilding a livelihood to getting through each day.

*When children have to leave*

Not all older people in the camp are without children. Many children have simply moved elsewhere. Families facing displacement often make impossible choices. A son may leave to find work. A daughter may return to another community to care for her own children. Parents stay behind because the camp offers more security or because travel is no longer possible.

Children may still send money, but money cannot replace someone sitting beside an elderly parent during illness. It cannot provide the reassurance of a familiar voice at night or time with grandchildren. For many older people, absence becomes another form of loss.

When illness becomes a financial decision

Healthcare is another major challenge.

Older people are more likely to live with chronic conditions like hypertension, diabetes, arthritis, and poor eyesight that require ongoing treatment. Mental health needs such as grief, anxiety, and depression are also common but often go unnoticed when aid focuses on immediate survival.

For families already struggling to afford food, healthcare means difficult choices: medicine or meals, hospital transport or other household needs.

A 2025 WHO/AHOP assessment reported that out-of-pocket payments accounted for more than 75% of total health expenditure in Nigeria, leaving low-income households exposed to high health costs. For an elderly person in displacement, a manageable condition can become an emergency when treatment is delayed due to cost.

The gap between policy and reality

Nigeria has expanded its framework for universal health coverage. Under the 2022 National Health Insurance Authority Act, programs now exist to extend coverage beyond formal-sector workers, including vulnerable populations.

But enrolling an older person in an IDP camp takes more than a policy. They may need help registering, lack identification, or not know where to seek care. Even when enrolled, transport costs and multiple health needs can remain barriers.

*Needs that are often overlooked*

Discussions about elderly health often focus on hypertension and diabetes. But needs also include mobility support, hearing and vision care, oral health, nutrition, and mental health. Cognitive decline and dementia are frequently mistaken for “normal aging” and go untreated.

When a family is focused on its next meal, there may be no time or money to address why an elderly parent has become withdrawn or confused. Conditions worsen before they are noticed.

Living with family does not always mean having resources to cope. A son who lost his livelihood may now support his mother, wife, and children. A daughter may struggle to feed her own children while also paying for her father’s medication. Food aid helps today. Chronic illness continues tomorrow. Aging becomes a family challenge, not just an individual one.

More than medicine

There is another loss that is harder to measure: loneliness.

Displacement takes away neighbours, friends, places of worship, routines, and social roles held for decades. For people who spent their lives caring for others, becoming dependent can affect identity and dignity.

Support for older people must go beyond food and medical checks. They also need companionship, purpose, and someone to listen.

Giving older people a place in the conversation

It is in this context that SAGE Foundation, through its SAGE Golden Circle initiative, is working to highlight older people in vulnerable communities and IDP camps.

At Games Village, the organization engages older residents directly, listens to their experiences, identifies needs, and creates opportunities for social interaction and psychosocial support.

The idea is simple: displacement may take a person’s home, but it should not take their dignity.

Mrs. Chika Nwankwo, a public health professional and dementia research scientist, said older people should not be seen as having no further role to play.

“When we look at an elderly person, we must not see somebody whose usefulness has ended. We are looking at a person who has lived, contributed, raised families and built communities,” she said.

Nwankwo added that public health programs must address the specific needs of older people.

“An older person has different needs from a child or a young adult. Their healthcare needs, their emotional needs and even their need for companionship require deliberate attention,” she said.

She commended SAGE Foundation for the Golden Circle initiative and urged continued focus on elderly voices.

“We must listen. We need to understand what older people are going through, connect them to the support available and keep bringing their voices into the conversation,” she said.

Counting the people behind the numbers

Nigeria’s displacement crisis is often measured in numbers: how many people have fled, how many camps exist, how much aid was delivered. But those figures can hide important differences.

An elderly person does not experience displacement the same way as a child. The needs of someone with diabetes differ from someone with dementia. A person with limited mobility faces different barriers from a young person who can walk kilometers for assistance.

Responses for older people may need to include age-disaggregated data, accessible healthcare, chronic disease management, mental health support, mobility assistance, dementia awareness, and stronger social protection. Health insurance must also be accessible in practice, not just on paper.

For elderly people in Nigeria’s IDP camps, these are not abstract questions. They are about seeing a doctor when sick, affording medication, being noticed when struggling, and staying connected to family and community.

Displacement may have taken their homes. It should not take their place in society. And for those growing old far from the communities they once knew, survival should not be the only measure of success.

The greater test is whether they can still age with dignity.