Recently, President Muhammadu Buhari signed the National Council for Social Work Establishment Bill 2022 as part of measures to effectively regulate the social work practice in the country. The law seeks to legalise social work practice in the country and bring it in tandem with global best practices.
Tagged Social Works Act No. 25 of 2022, the law is the regulatory framework that will regulate, legalise, monitor and control the activities of social workers in the country the way it is done in other countries.
For the sake of emphasis, the social work discipline is an applied behavioural profession that promotes human rights, social justice, peace, and conflict resolution while also engendering social change, problem-solving and sustainable development in human relationships.
Now more than ever before, Nigeria needs the services of social workers with all the plethora of challenges confronting the nation, some of which have engendered a fractured relationship among the citizenry.
It is fitting to note that the new law seeks to establish the National Council for Social Work that would regulate social work practice in the country. Interestingly, a governing body that will be appointed by the federal government will regulate the Council’s activities.
The law empowers the Council to determine what standards of knowledge and skills are expected of persons seeking to become members of the profession of social work and review those standards from time to time, as circumstances demand.
It is a given that all over the world, social workers perform very important roles in the lives of individuals, families, groups, communities and organisations who are in distress, the homeless, persons with disabilities, the aged, the sick, the mentally ill, juveniles, and children.
Because of the important roles they play in our lives, social workers are found in hospitals, family courts, schools, police formations, rehabilitation centres, correctional facilities, old people homes, NGOs, and civil society organisations among others, providing psychosocial support.
By and large, they provide emotional support and counselling for individuals and groups to overcome their social problems, and importantly help them realise their potential and function effectively.
In our considered view, the law, if effectively implemented, will not only change the face of social work practice in Nigeria but will ensure Nigerians have genuine value and services from members of this noble profession.
Viewed from this prism, we applaud members of the National Assembly who, on June 28, 2022, concurrently passed the bill into law, and commend President Muhammadu Buhari for assenting the National Council for Social Work [Establishment] Bill (2022).
Essentially, what the president’s assent symbolises is that the crucial roles played by the social workers would henceforth be done effectively with the regulatory framework now in place.
However, beyond the president’s assent, the federal government must immediately do all it takes in implementing the law beginning with the constitution of the Council. Unless that is done, the passage and all the efforts that culminated in it thereof would have been a waste.
In addition, governors and the state houses of assembly should do the needful by domesticating of the Act.
Social workers are relevant to the extent that by virtue of their work, they are expected to respond to crises, identify people and communities in need of help, strengthen and provide support networks for persons in difficulties.
For their impact and indeed, import of the new law to be felt across the country therefore, governors must be ready to domesticate it.
In different communities and schools across the country, numerous young people have to deal with complex issues like trauma, poverty, drug abuse and other forms of addiction.
To ensure these problems are addressed, the nation needs social workers who are trained on how to effectively engage people from different levels through empowerment processes to help them reach their fullest potential, thereby shaping our society for the better.
Having the states domesticate the new law, which seeks to regulate the practice of social work, is indeed a step in the right direction. Additionally, the government must make haste in putting in place all that is required for the effective implementation of this law and the time to do that is now.
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