By Gift Olivia Samuel, The Sight News
ABUJA: The National Senior Citizens Centre (NSCC) is working towards the establishment of a Continuing Engagement Bureau (CEB) Program to capture, aggregate and engage all Nigerian Senior Citizens so as to enhance their social inclusion.
The CEB Program will also help to provide platforms for incubating and utilizing the skills, talents, experiences and resources of retirees and other senior citizens for national and community development through volunteerism or paid employment.
The NSCC Director General, Dr. Emem Omokaro made this known Wednesday in Abuja at the Service Level Collaborations and Review of the Dummy Portal and other Support Instruments for the Establishment of NSCC Continuing Engagement Bureau (CEB) Program.
The event which was aimed at building the foundational synergies between the National Senior Citizens’ Centre (NSCC) and its critical partners, was organized with the objectives of having an understanding of the input requirements and outputs of the CEB by its key partners; understanding the critical role of the data portal and the need for its adoption and utilization, as well as understanding the need to engage as many senior citizens as possible in activities that can contribute to their economic and social capital, amongst others.
Dr. Omokaro noted that the NSCC is focussing on the optimistic perception of Ageing which is the reason for the CEB Program, adding that it is also driving the Centre’s National Plan of Action and Strategic Roadmap.
According to her, “The Centre is shifting the pessimistic perspective about older persons and bringing the optimistic perspective on Ageing which should be the perspective that older persons are a force for development.
“Older persons have spent many years of learning and work—their experiences, expertise, skills, passions and interests—and an optimistic perspective is one that says that older persons still have a lot to contribute, and because they are a force for development, then the country is obligated to keep them alive”, she said.
She further stated that the older persons population category is a very potent force for development, adding that any development made in that regard, will contribute to enormous economic growth.
“The CEB for us, is that we have realized a huge potential and experiences that we could incubate and deploy. We have realized brain trusts, persons who are carrying institutional memories, be they diplomats, soldiers, professional accountants, professionals in engineering and medicine.
“Diplomats that have served this country and have been everywhere in the world—accumulated experiences and are still at their functional capacities—even when the functional capacities are beginning to decline, we are building supportive environments so that they can be supported to continue to contribute.
“So today, we are here to begin to unbundle and to operationalize this. What we are doing is going to revolutionize Nigeria. We are going to build an experience hub where all our older persons will have all the tools and interactive platforms that they need to continue to engage and participate in the things they have value for”, she concluded.
For his part, the NSCC Coordinating Consultant, Dr. Emeka Okengwu reviewed the dummy portal, to ensure it met the expectations of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on data generation as well as the National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP) guidelines on data generation and protection.
He pointed out that the portal will capture every senior citizen, adding also that the NSCC through the CEB Program, is calling on older persons to get up and become useful to the society.
