FG Launches Senior Citizen Engagement Portal

Dr. Emem Omokaro

The federal government has launched a web platform to involve senior adults nationwide.

The portal is known as the Continuing Engagement Bureau (CEB), according to Dr. Emem Omokaro, Director-General of the National Senior Citizens Centre (NSCC), who announced this in Abuja.

According to Omokaro, the platform was developed to gather information on retired professionals and civil servants, among other groups, in order to connect them with governmental or nonprofit organizations that might benefit from their depth of expertise.

"It is specially to sensitise and motivate both the senior citizens, private sector and the public to embrace the opportunities this initiative offers for job creation partnerships and labour market access," Omokaro said.

She claimed that the program mostly serves senior adults who have retired from their professions.

"This will also include experts and practitioners in diverse fields who still carry the torch and passion for their skills, competencies and net worth to serve their communities.

"It also has provisions for older farmers and artisans both rural and urban, who would be encouraged to register on the portal's cooperatives and be connected with opportunities for productive activities and markets," she said.

The CEB program is created to enable older citizens with various intrinsic capacities to continue participating in what they have reason to value, according to the director-general, which is why the NSCC is very thrilled about it.

According to her, the program would not only improve senior citizens' access to the labor market but would also offer a platform for interactions and possibilities for lifelong learning, particularly in ICT, while boosting income and lowering senior citizen poverty, redundancy, and loneliness.

Dr. Emeka Okengwu, a consultant with the NSCC, described the occasion as one of the center's hallmark programs and said it was designed to build a platform for gathering, engaging, and using retirees' skills, talents, and resources.

According to Okengwu, the platform would also help people find possibilities to leverage their experience and abilities for future beneficial and meaningful contributions to society through paid work or volunteerism.