The federal government says at least 37,000 jobs will be created in the geriatric care industry, which is being set up by the National Senior Citizens Centre (NSSC).
NSSC director-general Emem Omokaro disclosed this on Sunday in Abuja during an interview on President Bola Tinubu’s first anniversary in office.
Ms Omokaro said that in the past year of the Tinubu-led administration, the NSCC has been able to build a caregiving system for older people as a skill in health and social care.
“What we have before now is that older persons are left to anybody that is available in the family; it does not matter whether the person knows anything about older age care and multimorbidity.
“But, what we have done in this one year is that we work closely with the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) as a regulatory body for technical education to design a course in caregiving, which will now be a skill and will be integrated into the Nigerian skills qualification framework.
“That means geriatric social care is now a sector skill, which means that carers of older people must be trained and certified,” she said.
Ms Omokaro said that for the first time in Nigeria’s history, the NSCC has developed a document to bring sanity to geriatric social care.
According to her, when the scheme is fully rolled out, at least 1000 geriatric caregivers will be trained and engaged in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
Ms Omokaro noted that most Nigerians who left the country’s shores were working in the care industry abroad without prerequisite training at home. Besides, she said that within the Nigeria skills framework, there is a demand that necessitated the set up of a geriatric social care sector.
Ms Omokaro disclosed that NSSC set up a 23-member private sector-led council made up of all relevant stakeholders in geriatric social care to address the sector’s employment needs.
“Apart from the council, we have identified and approved training providers with multi-disciplinary capacity because issues of care crisscross sociology, psychology, gerontology, medical therapies, community therapy and physical therapy.
“So, we have identified 22 states and federal government teaching hospitals that have geriatric units or centres for this purpose,” she said.
Ms Omokaro added that the training has five levels of certification, including the basic care level for senior secondary school leavers and levels three to five, integrated into the Federal Civil Service Cadre for Employment.
She said that besides creating employment, the scheme would bring dignity, security, and joy to older people, ensuring that they have certified care and are not forgotten in their retirement lives.
(NAN)