Akanbi, M. A. (2014) Variations in Old Age Support in an Urbanising Society: A Study of South-Western Nigeria. PhD thesis, Covenant University, Ota.
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 socio-demographic 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.