Social workers commend Buhari, NASS over the latest bill

 The Nigeria Association of Social Workers, applauded the President, Muhammadu Buhari for signing the National Council for Social Work [Establishment] Bill 2022 into law.

The association state that the law formally legalizes social work practice in the country.

This was made known via a statement signed by the  President, Alhaji Mashood Mustapha, a copy of which was made available to journalists on Thursday via the Public Relations Officer of the association, in the person of  Mr. Musliudeen Adebayo.

National Association of Social Workers(NASW) affirmed this in the statement that Buhari had, on Tuesday, signed the National Council for Social Work [Establishment] Bill 2022 into law.

It was disclosed that the bill had earlier been passed into law by the National Assembly. The Senate on Tuesday, June, 28th 2022. passed the Bill into law.

The NASW stated that signing the bill into law would empower and strengthen social work practice in the nation, stating that the law will help to regulate the practice in Nigeria the way it is done in other nations of the cosmos. 

Mr. Mustapha, while appraising Buhari and the National Assembly for a good job, illuminated that the association has been clamoring for the bill’s passage over two decades ago.

He rides on that  the law is a major achievement of the 9th National Assembly and President Muhammad Buhari simply because it will aid to legalize social work practice in the country through an act of parliament

He press on that the latest law will recognize the establishment of the National Council for Social Work that the government would control.

Mr. Mustapha in his speech said, “We commend, applaud and salute President Muhammadu Buhari for assenting the National Council for Social Work [Establishment] Bill (2022). We also commend the National Assembly over the passage of the bill into law.

“The new law seeks to establish the

National Council for Social Work would regulate social work practice in Nigeria and the Council’s activities will be regulated by a governing body that will be appointed by the Federal Government.

The commission, among other things, shall promote professional practice and uphold Social Work ethics and values. The Council, according to the law shall determine what standards of knowledge and skills are to be attained by persons seeking to become members of the profession of social work and review those standards from time to time, as circumstances demand”.

The National President while communicating further listed different functions of social workers in the country, saying that these functions will be done effectively and accurately now that the law has been signed.

“Across the world, social workers perform various functions to individuals, households, institutions, communities, and organizations who are in distress, the homeless, persons with disabilities, aged, the ill, the mentally ill, juvenile, and children, and Nigeria should not be an exception.

Social workers are found in hospitals, family courts, schools, police formations, rehabilitation centers, correctional facilities, old people homes, NGOs, and civil society organizations among others providing psychosocial support, emotional support, and counseling for individuals and groups to overcome their social problems to realize their capabilities and function effectively in their societies. These roles cannot be executed by social workers effectively without a regulatory receptacle. 

The law is the regulatory framework that will restrain, legalize, monitor, and regulate the workouts of social workers in the nation the way it is done in other nations”.