Adejoke Adebiyi
A consultant clinical psychologist at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi Araba, Dr. Charles Umah, has called for the removal of age limitation as a factor in employment, emphasizing the need to focus on individuals’ capabilities.
Dr. Umah said this during an interview, arguing that, the government should create job opportunities based on merit, disregarding age restrictions.
He therefore stressed that instead, FG should implement a retirement age to ensure competitiveness and the ability for individuals to showcase their skills.
He also lamented that, while the country currently imposes age limits on job applications, many individuals did not have the opportunity to attend school at an early age and subsequently completed their education later in life.
Consequently, he said some individuals resort to falsifying their ages to overcome the age constraints imposed by employers.
He said, “forgery could be age falsification or certificate falsification and that is why the personality of the individual comes into play. In Nigeria, we have age limits for jobs.
“They want you to go to school early, but most people don’t go to school early because they don’t have the facilities or the resources, so some have to grow up and make their money before going to school and after getting the qualification, you tell them that their age is beyond the employment age. What do you think will be the hope of such people?
“My take is that we should remove age limitation as a factor in employment, and look at what people can do, their ability. If we can start with that, who will want to falsify their age? Then, we can have a retirement age and make it competitive for people to show what they can do.
“The government should create job opportunities and remove the age embargo so that people can go to where they can fit in and where they can function”.
He therefore encouraged policymakers and stakeholders to consider adopting a more inclusive and merit-based approach to employment, fostering a fairer and more dynamic workforce in Nigeria.
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