“We are Often Broken Seeing Them” – Ben Edem on Feeding Nigeria’s Forgotten Elders

For Ben Edem, Chairman of the Rural Food Bank Support Foundation, every outreach to rural communities leaves a deep mark — the sight of elderly Nigerians, forgotten and hungry, struggling to survive in their old age.

As rising food prices, poverty and social isolation deepen the struggles of older Nigerians, Ben Edem is leading a quiet humanitarian movement into rural communities many have overlooked.

He is the founder and principal steward of the Local Food Bank for the Elderly, the flagship initiative of the Rural Food Bank Support Foundation, an organization built on a simple mantra: “We Go Beyond Conventional Places.”

“We Are Often Broken” — The Reality That Moved Him

For Edem, the mission is personal. It was born from what he witnessed on the field — elderly men and women battling not just hunger, but loneliness and abandonment.

“When we go out to donate food items to old people, we are often so emotional and broken, seeing how so many of them are forgotten and abandoned,” Edem says.

It is a reality he has seen repeatedly across Lagos and Ogun States. Some elders speak of pensions that never come. Others depend entirely on struggling family members. With harsh economic realities tightening their grip, many senior citizens say they have been left hungry and without hope.

Beyond hunger, Edem says, lies an even deeper crisis — the emotional suffering of elderly people who have become isolated, neglected or abandoned at the time they need care and companionship the most.

From Compassion to Action

That often-overlooked humanitarian crisis is what inspired Edem to establish the Local Food Bank for the Elderly.

What started as occasional food donations has grown into a structured system of care. Under his leadership, the initiative now reaches more than 30 rural and peri-urban communities, including Ayobo, Ikotun, Ejigbo, Ikeja, Badagry and Sango Ota. It has directly supported over 4,000 elderly people and more than 1,000 dependent children through walk-in centres and targeted community outreach.

Beneficiaries are enrolled through a structured registration system, ensuring that care is consistent rather than occasional.

In line with his commitment to reach the unreached, Edem has led teams to underserved and hard-to-access areas, including riverine communities where food parcels are delivered by canoes loaded with supplies.

Four Pillars of Care Beyond Food

For Ben Edem, the work goes beyond handing out food parcels. Under his stewardship, the programme rests on four pillars:

Welfare Monitoring — Regular check-ins to track the health, safety, and living conditions of registered elders.

Companionship — Friendly visits for older people living alone or with little to no social interaction.

Care Referrals — Connecting elders to medical and social support services when extra care is required.

Livelihood Support — Modest financial or resource assistance to help selected beneficiaries earn a small, dignified income.

Learning Beyond Borders

To strengthen the Foundation’s structure, Edem recently led a learning and collaboration visit to a community food bank in Surrey, Canada. For him, the lesson was clear: fighting hunger requires more than goodwill, it requires learning, structure and collaboration.

He now hopes to encourage broader recognition of elderly welfare as a shared responsibility involving government institutions, private organisations, civil society and local communities.

A Call to Join Him

Today, Ben Edem and the Rural Food Bank Support Foundation are inviting individuals, corporate partners, and civil society organizations to join in bringing food, relief, and dignity to Nigeria’s senior citizens.

Whether through volunteering, financial donations, or strategic partnerships, he says every act of support will directly contribute towards expanding their reach to more elderly beneficiaries.