NSCC AND PTAD BROKER PARTNERSHIP FOR DIGNIFIED LIVING FOR OLDER PERSONS IN NIGERIA

In a commitment towards building an enduring partnership, for greater impact, dignity, and inclusion of older persons and pensioners in Nigeria, the National Senior Citizens Centre, (NSCC) and the Pensions Transitional Arrangements Directorate (PTAD) will establish a Joint Working Group that will develop a guide for strategic partnership between the two agencies.

This was reached during a courtesy visit by the Executive Secretary of PTAD, Tolulope Odunaiya to the Director General of the National Senior Citizens Centre, Hon. Omobolanle Akinyemi-Obe at the Head Office of NSCC in Abuja.

This structured collaboration between NSCC and PTAD shall be on Data Sharing and Interventions, Joint Outreaches and Stakeholder Engagement, Innovation for Healthy and Productive Ageing and on Pensioners Welfare and Advocacy. Other areas will be on Medical Outreaches and Distribution of Assistive Devices, Nutritional Campaigns as well as Profiling of Senior Citizens across the Country.

Director General of the National Senior Citizens Centre, Hon. Omobolanle Akinyemi-Obe commended the Pensions Transitional Arrangement Directorate Executive Secretary, Tolulope Odunaiya for her unwavering commitment to the welfare and development of senior citizens in Nigeria saying that her visit to NSCC is a testament to the shared vision to ensure the well-being of older persons.

The mandate of NSCC, she reiterated, directly aligns with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and under her watch as Director General she will ensure that senior citizens are not only protected but empowered to contribute meaningfully to national development.

PTAD Executive Secretary, Tolulope Odunaiya encapsulated the corporate objective of the Directorate as, “ensure that one Pensioner equals one pension and to pay the correct pension, to the correct Pensioner, at the correct time” emphasising that part of the intent behind the reforms of the pension industry by the federal government, is to make the Defined Benefit Scheme system, benefit all eligible Pensioners in a fair and equitable manner, and in line with the relevant laws.

She said PTAD and NSCC are united by a common mandate and vision to protect, empower, and uphold the dignity of our Senior Citizens commending NSCC, for providing innovative interventions, championing policy reforms, and creating platforms such as the Continuing Engagement Bureau Initiative which reintegrates Senior Citizens, and by extension retirees, into productive national life while PTAD, similarly focuses on restoring confidence in the pension system through biometric verification, digital transformation of pension records, I am Alive confirmation process, transparent payments, and Stakeholder Engagement sessions across the country.