Senior Citizens or retired Pensioners/ retired persons, are common names given to retired Civil /Public Servants.Retirement can be as a result of Age(60years)or length of service (35years)whichever one comes first.Their years of service to the Nation,State or Organisation and in what capacity may not be relevant in any public discussion.
For the purpose of clarity,a senior citizen is that person who has served as an employee under an employer and had relinquished his or her job on grounds of age or mandatory years of service or on health grounds. He/She is an elderly person, especially an age related Pensioner. That a person is retired does not mean the individual cannot work or render any service to his or her nation any longer. Most often, retired civil Servants are underated. It is possible for some retirees to face various degrees of challenges that may lack immediate solution.How do we care for retired civil servants? Who is responsible for caring for this class of people? What can we do to change the narrative in the lifes of these class of people? 
These are many questions we will attempt to address in this write-up. Let us clarify the concept of a retired civil servant often called a Senior citizen. Senior citizen is an imposed acronym for retired civil servants who have worked in different capacities in public service but for reasons of age or meeting the statutory length of years of service as provided for in the public service rules, disengaged. In line with the provision of the civil service rules, any officer who is under the employment of the government People are said to be senior citizens when they reach the age of sixty or sixty-five because those are the ages at which most people retire from the workforce.
In Nigeria, older persons in this category and their families face challenges in coping with functional physical and psychosocial health status of the aging process. These factors include changes in family dynamics, increased demand for medical services, increased economic stress, and decreased functional independence. They hardly enjoy their monthly entitlement called pension or other benefits accuring to them or provided by relevant acts or laws They are often denied their rights by government. Many of them may not enjoy their rights or gratuity before they die.
Some crazy state governments often subject them to timeless screening when most of them die from the rigour of the screening exercise. No adequate medical care for them and their families. Their dependants suffer untold hardship especially payment of school fees of younger kids, payment of essential services they enjoyed while serving. Amidst these lacks?some state Government takes delight in delaying the payment of their entitlements such as monthly pension, gratuity and others. Indeed, payment of gratuities are at times based on their political influence or God fatherism. A lot of retired civil Servants who retired for the past ten twenty years weare yet to be paid thier gratuities whereas some who retired recently enjoyed their gratuities 100%. Where is equity and justice here if I may ask? God fatherism is the order of the day. Those who have godfathers’ influence enjoy express payment of their gratuities while others spend endless days,months and years in pension offices,seeking for assistance from” greedy”officers . It is on record that most families of deceased pensioners never had access to the records of their deceased families to enable them to pursue it further after the demise of their relations.It is against this background, that this paper intends to look at possible ways of making life meaningful for Senior Citizens. The government at all levels should not fail in their duties by ensuring total compliance with the provisions of the laws especially those that are meant cater for the welfare of Senior Citizens. The government should ensure enforcement of the provisions of pension laws. Where the state or Local Governments deliberately denied Senior Citizens their legitimate rights and privileges, necessary sanctions should be imposed on such authorities. Senior citizens should not be exposed to high level of inhumanity by whosoever is managing their affairs. The government at all levels should provide succours in form of medical or Health care services, transportation, Housing, recreational activities and other privileges for these categories of people.
They should be allowed to enjoy such privileges so as to prolong their lives.
Senior citizens should be entitled to
Utility discounts and be tax free. On no ground should a retiree suffer bureaucratic bottle necks in the hands of serving civil servants . The Pension Board should be on alert to their responsibilites by ensuring that Senior Citizens are paid their entitlements as at when due and that their rights are protected. As government is constantly reviewing the salaries and wages of serving civil/public servants, Senior Citizens’ pensions should also be reviewed upward as well.