The Federal Government has unveiled plans to launch a new portal that will enable older persons to continue offering their services after retirement.
This initiative is designed to help the country tap into the enormous potential of its elderly citizens who still have the desire and capacity to contribute to national development.
Dr Emem Omokaro, the Director-General of the National Senior Citizens Centre (NSCC), made this announcement during a collaborative meeting with various government agencies and stakeholders on service level in Abuja on Wednesday.
The meeting was themed, “NSCC Continuing Engagement Bureau Programme,” and its primary goal is to create a platform for synergy between the centre and its key partners.
Dr Omokaro emphasized that the intervention was critical because of the significant value that older persons can bring to the table.
“The aim of the collaboration is also to assist the centre to create an online portal that would engage older persons who are professionals in their different fields of endeavour to tap into their wealth of experiences.
“This is a gathering of service-level collaborators on continuing engagement bureau projects, continuing engagement means that we are disrupting retirements.
“We are creating platforms and tools, we are creating spaces for older persons who wish to continue to engage and have the opportunities to do so.
“You know, older persons have a right to contribute in any area they so wish and they also have a right to access the labour market after retirement not necessarily that they are to be employed by the government.
“We believe that older persons have a lot of talent and potential, they have expertise and skills so we can incubate their experiences.
“We have built our portal because we need all the data that we need to have, whether you retired from the federal civil service, state or local governments level.
“We are creating these platforms, and we are also identifying agencies that we need at this service level.
“So, in essence, the programme is really mobilising our older people because we want to show the wealth that Nigeria has and our approach is we are positioning NSCC to create wealth,” she said.
The director-general said that the portal would be operational latest by April.
Also speaking, a representative of the National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion, Mr Aminu Hayatudeen, commended the zeal and passion of the centre in creating a platform that would better a lot of older persons in the country.
Hayatudeen said the portal, when created, would assist the centre with an accurate database of older persons who are professionals in their different fields.
With the right support and infrastructure in place, older individuals can continue to be productive members of society long after their retirement.
The new portal will be an essential tool for achieving this goal, as it will help to engage, re-engineer, and reactivate the capacity of elderly citizens who are eager to continue offering their services to the nation.
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