The National Senior Citizens Centre and the Pensions Transitional Arrangements Directorate have reiterated their commitment to establishing a joint working group to bolster the well-being of older persons.

Omini Oden, spokesman for NSCC, disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja.

The statement said that the two organisations concluded on the collaboration during a working visit by the executive secretary of PTAD, Tolulope Odunaiya, to the director-general of the NSCC, Omobolanle Akinyemi-Obe, at the centre in Abuja

It noted that the visit was centred on building an enduring partnership for greater impact, dignity, and inclusion of older persons and pensioners in Nigeria. According to the statement, the joint working group will provide the guide for a strategic partnership between the two agencies.

Ms Akinyemi-Obe has commended Ms Odunaiya for her unwavering commitment to ensuring the welfare and development of senior citizens in Nigeria.

Ms Akinyemi-Obe also commended her visit to the centre. According to her, this attests to the shared vision by NSCC and PTAD to ensure the well-being of older persons in the country.

She noted that the mandate of NSCC aligned with the ‘Renewed Hope Agenda’ of President Bola Tinubu, stating that under her watch as the centre’s director-general, senior citizens would not only be protected but empowered to contribute meaningfully to national development.

Ms Odunaiya said the directorate sought to ensure that one pensioner receives one pension and pays the correct pension to the correct pensioner at the correct time. She explained that reforms in the pension industry by the federal government were aimed at making eligible pensioners derive benefits from the defined benefit scheme system in line with relevant laws.

According to her, this means that PTAD and NSCC are united by a common mandate and vision to protect, empower, and uphold the dignity of senior citizens.

She commended the NSCC for providing innovative interventions and championing policy reforms for them, identifying such interventions as the continuing engagement bureau initiative that reintegrates senior citizens and, by extension, retirees into productive national life.

She also said that PTAD similarly focused on restoring confidence in the pension system through biometric verification and digital transformation of pension records.

(NAN)