NUJ sues for domestication of Ageing Policy

By Vivian Okejeme, Abuja

The Chairman of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Comrade, Emmanuel Ogbeche, has called on the 36 states of the federation to domesticate the National Policy on Ageing in their respective states.

Ogbeche premised the call on the fact that, the issue of ageing is central to national development, hence, it was critical to push it to the front burner for states’ domestication and development.

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

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.

Therefore, he pledged the support of the union in propagating the cause of the aged assets of the country and the NUJ’s readiness

to develop the requisite vocabulary for reporting on issues of ageing in the country.

Presenting the National Senior Citizens Center Act, 2017and the National Policy of Ageing, Oden 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.