At a point in one’s life, an individual, usually due to age, has to quit the daily activities that had been putting money in his pocket over the years. The individual is now said to have retired – it`s the point at which a person stops employment completely, or reduces his work hours.
?Mr Christopher Eze, a retiree of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) says, “Retirement is an English word that means you disengage from active service either due to your age or illness, or you decide to withdraw your services on your own; you retire.”
For Mr Andrew Lawal, a bus driver, retirement is “the time when somebody leaves the work he is doing. I have driven this bus for 10 years, I’m forty-nine years old and will retire next year.”? ?
Retirement ought to be a phase of life that one looks forward to; a time when one can rest from toil and labour and enjoy the fruits of all his hard work over the years. In Nigeria, however, and for obvious reasons, some wish it would never come. In the Nigerian Civil Service, it`s a period tagged ‘now your suffering begins’. Mrs. Rebecca Abdul is a Level 4 civil servant in Abuja and she puts it this way, “it`s a time that most civil servants in Nigeria pray never comes.” One can`t help but agree with Mrs Abdul, bearing in mind what the average civil servant in Nigeria has to go through before he/she? gets his/her entitlements upon retirement – the chasing of files and all that. Mr Jacob Akpa who retired in August 1992, says,
“My brother it has not been easy. House rent keeps coming because I live in a rented apartment. Some of us are not lucky enough to have our own house. But that is not even the issue; do you know that up till this moment we are talking I’m yet to get any of my benefits?”
On the issue of retirement in Nigeria when compared to what it’s like in the more developed parts of the world, Rev Fr. Jerome Bello, the parish priest of Holy Rosary Catholic Church says, “it`s an unfortunate situation; quite unlike what`s obtainable in many countries beyond the shores of Nigeria. When people in Nigeria retire, they don`t get their benefits, which is very very sad. One would have expected that having given the best of yourself in serving the nation, state or Local government, by the time you are calling it quits, your retirement package should be ready, but in most cases it`s not there at all.” He cited the example of pensioners who troop to the nation`s capital, Abuja to claim their benefits, “Many of the soldiers who visit the pensions board at Zone 4 here (Wuse Zone 4, Abuja) die in the process. They always come to the church here for assistance.”
Father Bello however said that the same is not the case for higher-ranking civil servants. “Directors, deputy directors and permanent secretaries get their entitlements, but down the ladder it`s a different story. “
Mrs Obiageli? Anikwem is a top civil servant in the Federal Capital Territory. She says, “For those who are able to get all their benefits and so have a fall-back position, it`s fun to go on retirement.” According to her, retirement is a wonderful thing. “It’s something many people look forward to, because not everybody in the civil service stays until their retirement. Some die before the time, some resign along the way or willingly leave the service because of one problem or another. So to have seen yourself successfully completing your service is a wonderful thing and is something that will make you go home happy.” ?
The official retirement age in the Nigerian Civil Service is 60 years of age or 35 years of service, but the situation in Nigeria has made many civil servants falsify their age, so that they do not have to retire when they should. Mr John Ibem is a driver with the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN). He tells the story of his boss who spent many years in the civil service, but refused to declare his real age. “He came into the service before me but always claimed to be under forty. He has finished all the hair dye in the Eke market trying to look young, but the grey hairs have refused to go.”
He says that luck ran out on his boss when a staff member who felt that he was blocking the way of younger staff dug out his old file. Mr Ibem also says that there are those due for retirement who still apply to be contract staff. “While the youths are crying that there are no jobs, these people go and occupy the few spaces available. Everyday, your sons and daughters are going about looking for jobs. When they come back home you give them food to eat yet you sit down on that chair, you don`t want to leave it,” he lamented. ?
That’s the civil service for you. But is the situation any different in the private sector?
Wasiu Ibrahim will quickly tell you that, “For market you no dey get retirement.” He says that you can only retire in business when you run out of money, or when you die and your children or some other person takes over the business. “If you still get money you no go retire. If you get old, your children go manage the business. If your money finish, you go retire. Na officers wey dey retire because them dey get something from government.” Ibrahim`s view was supported by Mr Okechukwu Agu who deals in building equipment. For him, there`s no retirement in business as long as the individual is still alive. “Even after training your children, you still need more money for further investment. Money can never be enough, the more you get the more you need so you keep trying to get to the next milestone.” ?
Mr Ade Adejola has been a camera repairer for many years. “Retirement is when you work for 30 to 35 years in the civil service. As a repairer I’m going to work for 30 to 35 years and then retire.? I have worked for 30 years now, so in five years’ time, I will go back to my house and enjoy some good living.”
Professionals – doctors, lawyers, engineers etc. – are another class of people who believe that one can never retire. Dr Tim Menakaya, former minister for Health, puts it this way. ”it depends on how you define it. There are those who don`t retire.
I belong to the medical profession and most of us don`t normally retire, you just reduce the tempo of your activities. In the past ten years, I have not been as active as I used to be.” Dr Patience Arubebe says, “It`s like wine, it tastes better as it gets older.” She says their attention is needed from time to time, mostly to help in directing younger and student doctors. She says that professionals are very important assets that can`t be easily discarded. “If a medical doctor leaves active service, he will go into consultancy. It all depends on what the individual wants, but you know we are busy minds, so something somehow has to be taking place.”
Mr Emeka Okafor says his father, who is close to 80 years of age, still goes to court. “Sometimes when I call him, his phone is off because he is in court. He says he can`t retire.”
The same is applicable to most professional sports men and women, who end up picking up a coaching job when they ‘retire’.
What is one supposed to do during retirement? Dr Menakaya says, “I take out time for recreation. I play golf from time to time, go for meetings and I’m involved in politics. I also carry out some civic responsibility in my village and other places. These are the things that occupy my time.” Mr. Ade Ademola who is a taxi driver in the FCT says, “I will go into small business.
I know block moulders, so I intend to go into cement business.”?? Mr Ambrose Okafor, a petty trader says, “I will go back to my village and go into small-scale farming and I will use the money to feed and take care of myself till I die. I would not want to be a burden to any of my children.”
Father Bello suggests that one can get engaged in poultry farming or have a small garden to keep busy with.? He also says it is a perfect period to get close to God. “They use that moment to right some of the wrongs they did as youths and some people tend to close the gap between them and their God during this period,” Mrs Anikwem also says. ?
But do Nigerians ever actually go into retirement?
Dr Menakaya has a lot to offer here. “People don`t really go on retirement entirely as it used to be. What we have today is active ageing, or call it active retirement. When you retire, you try to occupy yourself with something otherwise you’ll die. So many people retire and go to the village and do nothing. In the morning they eat, sleep, get up, eat and sleep again. You know they are calling on death to come as quickly as possible. That is why we advise people to engage in exercise.” Dr Menakaya is a member of the IBB golf club and adds that,
“We have veterans here who play two to three times every week. Some people play every day. Most of them are over 70, some are even 80 and above.” On those reluctant to leave the offices they occupy and retire, as is often the case in Nigeria, Menakaya says that it is because people fail to plan their lives well; “That`s why some people when they reach the age of retirement start to cry, cry for what? You must pass on the baton; otherwise there will be no progress.” It may interest one to know how old this former minister is.? “I’m well above 70, as a matter of fact I just celebrated my 75th birthday and here now I have just finished 18 holes of golf, which means I have been working for the past five hours.”
Though not every Nigerian will have it as rosy as the respected former minister, the message one can derive from him is that retirees should get themselves busy with something, having previously planned well for that period of retirement. It should be a period of life to be looked forward to.????? ?
?