The CEB Program Is A Winning Formula For All Parties- DG NSCC

Oru Leonard

Director General, National Senior Citizens Center, Dr Emem Omokaro has said that the Continuing Engagement Bureau (CEB), program is a winning formula for all parties.

Dr Omokaro stated this in her welcome address during the launch of the CEB program and Stakeholders Sensitization and Capacity Enhancement at Abuja on Tuesday.

She said the goal of the launch was to demonstrate how the CEB initiative  would work, to sensitize and motivate both senior citizens the public and Private organizations to embrace the opportunities the initiative offers for job creation partnerships and labor.

She disclosed that the Program targets senior citizens who are retired professionals, experts and practitioners in diverse fields who still carry the torch and have the passion and desire to continue to engage their experiences, skills, competences, networks and their net worths in serving their communities and their country.

She added that the NSCC through the CEB Program is working to maximize the latent potentials of the older persons and also to reinvent themselves by reinventing roles and finding new opportunities.

“The Continuing Engagement Program also has provisions for older farmers and artisans both in the rural and urban centres who would be encouraged to register on the portal as Cooperatives and to be connected with opportunities for productive activities and for markets.

“We are looking at the fundamental human rights of older persons. Right to work, maximize their potentials, and right to access the labour market in whichever form they wish to.

“NSCC is a facilitator; we know the values and the assets that our senior citizens carry. We know they are carrying capacity and then also, this provides for them a healthy lifestyle. They are engaging their faculties, rising up and moving out, this is healthy Ageing. They are also filling the gaps through intergenerational mentoring which is fast losing its place in Nigeria, and creating opportunities for organizations who have a need for special skills”, she stated.

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.

The DG also noted that the Centre is creating platforms for connections as they are willing to enter into partnership with any organization that wants to harness the experience of older persons either as a group or individual placement and then negotiate age-friendly environments.

Presenting the technical overview of the Continuing Engagement Bureau Program,  NSCC Coordinating Consultant, Dr. Emeka Okengwu said all senior citizens will be captured in the data as the form has been carefully drawn to suit every sector.

Dignitaries from different Ministries, Departments, Agencies, Retirees and participants from the private sector were in attendance.

Recall that in March 2023 the NSCC held a Service Level Collaboration and Review of the Dummy Portal and other Support Instruments for the Establishment of NSCC Continuing Engagement Bureau (CEB) Program.