NUJ Wants Ageing Policy Domesticated In 36 States

The Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, FCT chapter, Emmanuel Ogbeche, has called on the 36 states of the federation to domesticate the National Policy on Ageing in their respective states.

Ogbeche made the call when Omini Oden, Head of Media and Public Communications of the National Senior Citizens Centre (NSCC), paid him a courtesy call and presented the policy along other materials to him.

Ogbeche said as the issue of ageing is central to national development, it was critical to push it to the front burner for states’ domestication and development.

He maintained that the Journalists Network on Ageing in Nigeria (JONAN) must rise up to impress on the import of an entrepreneurial center for ageing across the country so that senior citizens would continue to contribute to national development.

He pledged the support of the union in propagating the cause of the aged assets of the country.

The chairman pledged the readiness to develop the requisite vocabulary for reporting on issues of ageing in the country.

Oden, who presented the National Senior Citizens Center Act, 2017and the National Policy of Ageing, stated that the centre is focused on mining all its partners across the divide of public and private sectors with a view to properly educate Nigerians on the tremendous assets senior citizens represent.

According to him, the centre is among other things focused on poverty reduction; health and wellbeing through strategic engagement with stakeholders to mainstream geriatric care; capacity building for the senior citizens and centers for senior citizens directed at programmes for enjoyment and wellbeing.

Oden said this would be carried out with particular interest, on the Age-friendly environment which would be totally reliant on data systems and integration of the numbers for implementation and plan.