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The federal government has said that it will create a portal to engage, re-engineer and reactivate the capacity of older people who wish to continue working after retirement.

Emem Omokaro, the director-general of the National Senior Citizens Centre (NSCC), said this on Wednesday at a collaborative meeting with relevant government agencies and stakeholders on service level in Abuja.

“The aim of the collaboration is also to assist the centre to create an online portal that would engage older persons who are professionals in their different fields of endeavour to tap into their wealth of experiences,” Ms Emem stated. “This is a gathering of service-level collaborators on continuing engagement bureau projects, continuing engagement means that we are disrupting retirements.”

She added, “We are creating platforms and tools. We are creating spaces for older persons who wish to continue to engage and have the opportunities to do so. You know, older persons have a right to contribute in any area they so wish, and they also have a right to access the labour market after retirement, not necessarily that they are to be employed by the government.”

According to her, the federal government believes that older people have a lot of talent, potential, expertise and skills.

“We have built our portal because we need all the data that we need to have, whether you retired from the federal civil service, state or local governments level. We are creating these platforms, and we are also identifying agencies that we need at this service level,” Ms Emem explained.

She stressed that the programme “is really mobilising our older people because we want to show the wealth that Nigeria has, and our approach is we are positioning NSCC to create wealth.”

The director-general noted that the portal would be operational in April.

(NAN)