Experts Reveal Dangers Ahead if Social Work Council is Not Constituted in Nigeria
- Nigerian Association of Social Workers (NASoW) has warned of the impending dangers of not constituting the social work council in the country.
- NASoW expressed worries following the 33 months of delay in constituting the council after it was assented to by former President Muhammadu Buhari.
- President of the Nigerian Association of Social Workers says if properly harnessed, social work has great potential to turn around various sectors of the Nigerian economy
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The Nigerian Association of Social Workers (NASoW) has raised concerns over what it described as lack of oversight and regulation of social work practice in Nigeria.
In an exclusive interview with Legit.ng, the President of the NASoW, Alhaji Mashood Mustapha, said after about three years the Bill to constitute Social Workers was assented to by former President Muhammadu Buhari, Social Work practice in Nigeria is still peopled by many quacks.
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Nigeria risks losing a goldmine in Social Work
The NASoW President, Alhaji Mashood Mustapha said social work is a neglected goldmine which has been hijacked by those who do not know it, warning that if the trend is not checked, Nigeria risks increase in social problems and its attendant consequences.
“Development can never be achieved without social work being regulated. When you talk of social work, you talk of populations, you talk of poverty level, mental health, childcare, care for the aged among others.
“You need people who are trained in the art to man all these sections of the population diligently just the way doctors and the nurses manage the health care of the people because health is the state of physical and mental wellbeing. So, this social wellbeing must be properly covered by the social workers and the professionals to handle this much bigger problem. People must be properly trained to so that they can do things in an appropriate way.”
Developed nations don’t joke with social work
Unlike developed countries, especially in the global north, Mustapha posited that Nigeria has never taken social work issues serious.
He noted that countries like United States of America, UK and others “where the system works” are profiting from the standardisation of social work.
“Look at the case of insurgences in the north, many people are internally displaced, who are the people managing them, the wrong people are the ones managing them, that is why majority of the people even the (repentant) Boko Haram fighters are going back again because they are not getting the proper social orientation from the right people. The general wellbeing is what the social workers are concerned about but because it’s not being properly regulated, everybody will say they are social workers even when they are not.”
Mustapha berated the situation where NGOs and CSOs have taken up the job of social work. He described the situation as anomaly.
“Quacks who are not trained to provide social work services will dominate the sector and this will not help to ameliorate the prevailing social problems in the country.
“Yes anybody can be a social worker but you have to be trained so that you’re legally backed for what you are doing and you are legally responsible for what you are doing so that you can be held accountable for what you are doing right and wrong. Unlike now that the NGOs are overseeing what is going on in the Northeast of Nigeria.”
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No Social Work, no development
The Nigerian Social Workers leader said social work is synonymous to development to which every country seeking development must pay attention.
He explained that social work plays crucial roles in all aspects of development, citing examples of security, health, education, marital issues and child welfare,
“Specifically, when it comes to social work we are talking of the development and wellbeing of the society.
“Even in education we have social workers which they refer to when they are going to school. It is all about the wellbeing of the society, the goal is the wellbeing of individuals. We have people with marital challenges that is already affecting the welfare of the children. They must be socially maintained, that is why people in the civilized society don’t play with social workers.”
Clarion call to the Federal Government
The National President of the Nigerian Association of Social Workers (NASoW) appealed to the President Bola Tinubu-led Federal Government to take the giant and beneficial step by constituting the Social Work Council already gazetted by the previous administration. He said the need to do this has become imperative amid social challenges and to improve the services in some dormant government agencies and to rescue the country from the quacks who act like social workers.
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Source: Legit.ng
