Study has found that workers who fail to plan for retirement create unnecessary threat to their old age.
This was part of the findings of a recent study conducted by two researchers, Ogunyemi Segilola Yewande and Oderinde Olajide Damilola, on ‘Problems of Retirement Planning in Nigeria’.
“In spite of government’s efforts to ensure social sanctuary income for retired civil servants, retirement has been and is still a frustrating and disturbing experience in Nigeria,” the report stated.
It found that many people are unprepared and that there are irregularities in the payment of pension and benefits in the country.
The study, which focused on major issues in retirement in Nigeria and the importance of planning for retirement, emphasised that life consisted of entry and exit and that one must plan for exit immediately after getting their appointment.
“Retirement from active civil service is inevitable in the life of every public officer. Many workers look forward to retirement but do not prepare for it as a stage that every worker must surely reach whether he prepares for it or not,” the report stated.
The report found that many who secure entrance into organisations were not conscious of their exit which is certain at a future date.
The report recommended that a happy and fulfilling post-retirement life demands that certain capital or revenue-generating manufacturing/service outfits be put in place by individual workers before the retirement day.
The paper called on government to implement more retirement strategies while workers in both public and private sectors should try to engage in retirement planning in order to have a useful and satisfying life after retirement.
It noted that waiting on government to ensure proper, effective and efficient retirement strategies has failed in the past as having a great retirement in Nigeria not only depends on the government but on ardent preparation by those involved so that at the end of the day, they would not become a burden to themselves and the society at large.
“More emphasis should be placed on changing attitude to retirement. Nigerian workers both in the private and public sectors should see retirement not as an end of one’s world, rather the beginning of a new phase of life. Therefore there should be early planning and workers retiring on ground of age should be celebrated and treated as war veterans by the society and government,” the report recommended.
A case was made for the federal government and private investors to create an agency for retirement in each state so as to tackle difficulties retirees experience.
