President Bola Tinubu says his government is committed to enhancing the welfare of senior citizens and older persons in Nigeria.
President Tinubu was speaking at a two-day conference held in Abuja to the unveil the geriatric care sector in Nigeria.
The conference powered by the National Senior Citizens Centre, NSCC, is aimed at setting up the platform to kick-off intensive discussions and multisectoral stakeholder engagement towards instituting a nationally standardized care sector for older persons in the country.
It featured the inauguration of the Nigeria Geriatric Social Care Sector Skills Council headed by Dr Olusegun Fatai-Badmus and the first batch of the Recognized Geriatric Training Providers and Centres in 21 Centres across the country.
It also featured the unveiling of the National Occupational Standards For Social Care In Nigeria Levels 1 – 5; National Benchmark and Minimum Standards for Assessment of Geriatric Social Care Settings, Staffing, Core Competencies, and Requirements For Training Providers and Training Facilities For Geriatric Social Care In Nigeria 2024; and the National Policy Guidelines for Quality Assurance in Geriatric Social Care and Standard Operating Procedure for Care Agencies and Care Settings in Nigeria, 2024.
Speaking at the inauguration and unveiling ceremony, President Tinubu represented by his Special Adviser on Health, Dr Salman Anas said that through the documents and the council, his government will mainstream the care for older people in the country through homegrown solutions and policies tailored towards the country’s cultural norms.
The Minister for Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate represented the Director of Family Health in his Ministry, Dr John Ovore, emphasized that the Federal Government is committed to improving the access and quality of care received by senior citizens and older persons in the country, stating that the time is over when they are considered as a burden on society.
Speaking on the theme of the conference, “Geriatric social care and value chain: A case for social investment”, the Director General of National Senior Citizens Centre, Dr Emem Omokaro said with the unveiling of the documents and the inauguration of the geiatric social care sector skills’ council, Nigeria has taken a first and major step towards providing senior citizens access to compassionate care, care settings where interventions are based on the understanding of the needs of older people and ultimately, promoting aging with dignity, better quality of life and independence.
Later in an interview with the press after attending the ceremony virtually, the Anambra State Commissioner for Special Duties, Rt. Hon. Barrister Beverly Ikpeazu-Nkemdiche commended the National Senior Citizens Centre for developing the holistic documents which provides a co-operative, multisectoral and multidimensional approach to the intervention for the older persons in the country.
She said with the documents now providing standardization, sub-nationals such as Anambra State where the Solution administration is already tinkering on an inclusive policy for the poor and elderly in the state will be guided to develop policies that cater to the immediate needs of the elderly.
The hybrid conference attracted participants from the health sector, National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking In Persons, NAPTIP, stakeholders in the geriatology sector in the country, civil and non-governmental organizations, among others.
