The National Senior Citizens Centre (NSCC) is set to partner with other government agencies in the registration of Senior Citizens in the country to enable them benefit maximally from government policy.
NSCC Head of Public Affairs, Media and Communications, Omini Oden, made the disclosure in a statement on Monday, in Abuja.
“This is coming on the heels of the declaration by President Muhammadu Buhari at the first presidential summit on aging in Nigeria for the registration and issuance of identity cards to senior citizens in Nigeria,” he said.
Oden said that NSCC would collaborate with the National Identity Management Commission, National Bureau of Statistics, National Orientation Agency, Nigeria Union of Pensioners, and Associations of Older Persons, the private sector, and interested Non-Governmental Organisations.
He said that the National Senior Citizens Center (ACT) 2017 mandated NSCC to keep records of statistics of senior citizens, build data system and inclusion as recommended in the National Policy on Ageing and it’s just a completed plan of action
This, Oden said, was for courtesies and other concessions to the senior citizens in public and private spaces as well as a declaration of the Oct. 5, annually as National Day of Senior Citizens in Nigeria.
“The Presidential declaration for the registration and issuance of identity cards to senior citizens will facilitate dignified age-friendly services,” Oden said.
Oden said that this was one of the landmark achievements of Buhari’s administration and a milestone for Africa and the world.
He said that the NSCC was already preparing to roll out surveys on the status of services in four identified sectors in the first phase desk reviews of the World Health Organization (WHO)
“Also, Age-friendly frameworks to develop indicators and monitoring and evaluation tools for the effective sector by sector implementation and to mount intensive public enlightenment campaigns on Age-friendly environments Nigeria,” he said.
Oden said that NSCC would also welcome partnerships as it rolls out many more innovative flagship initiatives in 2022. (NAN)
