The National Senior Citizens Centre came into existence through the instrumentality of an Act of the National Assembly signed into law in 2017 with a mandate to cater for the needs of senior citizens in Nigeria. Indeed the enabling law states in Section 16(2)(d) of the 1999 Constitution that "it shall be a State policy to provide adequate social services and an improved quality of life for the elderly".
Pursuant to this mandate the Agency became operational in 2021 with the appointment of Dr Emem Omokaro as its pioneer Director General with oversight by the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs as well as Federal Ministry of Health.
The functions include "identify the needs , training and opportunities of senior citizens in the country and be responsible for the provision of health , sports , recreational, educational and social facilities for the benefit of senior citizens all over the country.
Other crucial functions include evolving and keeping records as well as a detailed data base of senior citizens across the country and also initiating and developing productive activities and work schemes for their livelihood.
Records show that the agency has engaged in skills acquisition programmes in partnership with a few private organizations in the past two years amongst other activities.
However it was only in the last few weeks that the spectre of public attention beamed on the Centre after the inauguration of a Media Roundtable hosted by the Centre and the subsequent investiture of a glamorous team of cerebral Media veterans led by the mercurial eclectic television producer of Nigeria Television Authority fame Olorogun Peter Igho that the National Senior Citizens Centre grabbed the headlines and irresistible visibility in the media space nationwide.
At the Media Roundtable held in Abuja , the Director General NSCC Dr Emem Omokaro using well produced and lucid multi-media platforms accompanied with statistics and graphics outlined the State of the aged in Nigeria today , the designated assignments of the Roundtable as well as her demands for cooperation and collaboration pointing out the Centre's desire to utilize the humongous star power and visibility of the Media veterans gathered at the venue in Abuja to amplify the activities and use intense advocacy to draw attention to the mandate of the Centre.
The Director General reiterated the intention of the Centre to create "Renewed Hope" for the elderly within our society by giving them better quality healthcare , recreational options and deserved good living at the twilight of their lives. She named the group Goodwill Ambassadors of the Media and Movie industry and appointment Olorogun Peter Igho DanJikan Kabi as the Coordinator with famed stars like Chika Okpala , Joke Silva , Alhaji Idi Farouk, Alhaji Tijjani Ramalan, Lantana Ahmed , Marie Bewell , Dr Danladi Bako and Cyril Stober amongst other members. Sequel to the dinner and Roundtable evening , an investiture formalizing the existence and mandate of the team was done by the Special Adviser to the President on Heath Dr Safiya Anas and that set the agenda for the Goodwill Ambassadors to hit the ground running.
The group's Coordinator, Peter Igho convened a strategy meeting that evening and intense deliberations took place with robust contributions from members which lasted over three hours fashioning out the operationalization of its assignments. The deliberations and outcomes were outlined in a Communique by the body.
These include Advocacy visits to top functionaries of government, the Legislature traditional rulers , civil society organizations Embassies and private financial corporations in an an effort to create more awareness of not only the existence of the Citizens Centre but to join in driving it's mission and vision.
The Communique also states that a database covering retired veterans from the Media industry will be created and well administered tapping into the membership of such bodies as the Nigerian Union of Journalists, Association of Movie Producers , Actors Guild of Nigeria and so many others.
Others outcomes of the strategy meeting include the production of Radio , television and social media content to promote the mandate of the National Senior Citizens Centre using the immense aura and gravitas of the Media veterans now christened Goodwill Ambassadors.
State Governments and Local Government authority councils will be engaged for greater reach and involvement of senior citizens within the rural communities. Without doubt , this laudable initiative which is a product of brainstorming by Dr Omokaro and Olorogun Peter Igho, surely has not only opened a new vista in the collaborative efforts to get a better life for the elderly in Nigeria but also will provide mental and occupational engagement for the veterans.
Not only will they be putting the senior citizens of Nigeria on the front burner , but it will prepare the young and trendy of today as well as provide them with an insight into the lives they will be saddled with when they age beyond sixty years old.
For now and in the past growing old has been associated with impending suffering, desolation, isolation , destitution total abject poverty and neglect. This change desired by all and sundry is the catalyst for this major initiative bringing to existence the National Senior Citizens Centre and its mandate, mission and vision.
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It's not by accident but certainly a masterstroke by the effervescent Director General of the Centre Dr Emem Omokaro to successfully draft Peter Igho former Director General National Lottery Regulatory Commission, almost sixteen years into retirement to pilot this media veterans intervention on behalf of the Citizens Centre.
It is not to say that the activities of the National Senior Citizens Centre have not made front page news , but the added incentive of the huge media appeal these veterans bring to the table cannot be underestimated or undervalued.
The singular action of engaging the right tools and right personnel , in this case Peter Igho paved the way for the veteran producer of Nigeria Television Authority (NTA') famous television drama "Cock Crow at Dawn" Peter Igho to mobilize high grade media seniors and elders like Chika Okpala (Zebrudaya) and Tony Akposheri (Zaki) of NTAs "Masquerade" fame to join the train in the sensitization and mobilization of the citizenry , young and old to drive the agenda of better life for senior citizens of Nigeria so that ultimately growing old would not be a depressing prospect but a destination worthy of being experienced and enjoyed.
* Danladi Bako PhD, OON Member, Goodwill Ambassadors, NSCC Abuja.
