The Nation Newspaper

Category: Abuja Review

  • Minister: no going back on FCT’s growth

    The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Administration will strive to achieve all its  development goals.

    FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Bello gave the assurance while receiving the participants of Course 38 of the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru-Jos, who were in Abuja for a study tour.

    The minister reiterated that a lot has been achieved, adding that a lot more needs to be done to fast-track the development of the entire Federal Capital Territory as envisaged by its founding fathers.

    Bello noted that his administration would do everything possible to scale up the infrastructural development of the city and its environs including the provision of services in the Territory.

    His words: “I assure you that this Administration will continue to strive very hard to achieve all the goals set for us in all aspects so that we will continue to advance the society”.

    The Minister remarked that the Administration is quite aware that there is still a lot to be done in respect of poverty alleviation as well as development of our rural communities; adding that the present government will not rest on its oars until it improves the living standard of the residents.

    According to him, “When you talk about Abuja, the initial impression is that the city is beautiful with roads, streetlights and beautiful buildings but the reality of Abuja is much more than the beautiful things you have seen”.

    The Minister urged the participants to feel free to come out with a realistic assessment of the city so as to help government in taking critical decisions.

    During the interactive session, the FCT Permanent Secretary, Dr.  Babatope Ajakaiye stated that the FCT Administration’s policy on poverty reduction and inclusive development is targeted at people in the rural communities.

    Ajakaiye  explained that the FCT Administration operates with what we call Secretariats, Departments and Agencies (SDAs) just like the MDAs in the Federal Government.

    He further explained that the Secretariats and departments operate more as policy-making organs, while the agencies implement these policies as formulated.

    Ajakaiye enumerated that the FCT Administration has seven Mandate Secretariats and they include Education, Transportation, Health & Human Services, Social Development, Agriculture & Rural Development, Area Council Services and Legal Services Secretariats as well as the

    Abuja Metropolitan Management Council that takes care of the municipal services.

    Earlier, leader of the NIPSS delegation, Professor Abu Galadima advised the FCT Administration to send officials to the Institute during the participants’ presentation of its study report.

     

  • Poll orderliness excites minister

    The Federal Capital Territory, (FCT) Minister, Malam Muahammad Bello has praised residents of the FCT for the peaceful manner they conducted themselves during the FCT Area Councils’ election.

    It was just as well that such warm words were coming from  the authorities, for observers believe they will go a long way in encouraging civility and good conduct in a country which often has violent polls.

    Casting ballots in the country has been anything but peaceful in several elections. Guns and other weapons have been deployed by people believed to be hired by desperate politicians.

    The minister monitored the election at the Gwarinpa I District (Life-Camp), Kubwa satellite town and Jiwa Polling Stations.

    He lauded the residents for the mature way they queued up to observe their civic responsibility.

    According to a statement issued by Deputy Director/Chief Press Secretary, Muhammad Sule, the minister urged them to keep the peace as they await the outcome of the exercise.

    The minister said that FCT residents have shown that they are responsible torch-bearers.

    The minister was not happy with the residents; he was excited by the way the security agents ensure peace during the exercise.

    Bello described their action as proactive and professional.

    It was noted that the security agents did not get in the way of the voters nor obstruct the candidates, neither were there any reports of their interference with INEC staff.

  • Chair-elect’s wife to help orphans

    Wife of the chairman-elect of Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC ), Aisha Nse Adamu Candido has promised to offer scholarship to orphans in the council.

    She also pledged to work with the council in ending unemployment.

    This, she said, will be done  through the building of women development skills acquisition centres in the 12 wards of the council.

    Mrs Candido said this while celebrating her birthday at the Refuge Home Ophanage home Durumi, adding that her decision to celebrate with orphans was in line with her agreement to God.

    She insisted that no event is worth celebrating except the poor and less privileged are part of it.

    Mrs Candido also said the gesture will be continuous.

    She reinstated that every electioneering promise made by her husband  during his campaign will be fulfilled once he takes office.

    She equally said that in the first year of her husband’s tenure, great efforts will be made to drastically reduce mortality rate in the council, adding that there will be full collaboration with professional health workers to find out areas where clinics are urgently needed in AMAC communities.

    She said, “Women will be trained in each community of the council on skill acquisition programme that will start immediately my husband is sworn in as the council chairman and for those who are  women traders, the council will create opportunities for them to access zero-interest loans.

  • Hope for in communities

    The Netherlands has a unique plan of providing water for Abuja rural communities: selling pictures of the deprived settlements and sinking boreholes with the proceeds. GRACE OBIKE reports

    The challenges of communities in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) are well documented. Their roads are nearly impassable. Electricity supply is unreliable. Schools are poorly equipped where they exist. Water supply is woeful.

    What is less reported is what is being done to solve the problems.

    That is where the Netherlands comes in. The country wants to help by providing safe drinking water for the communities, but it aims to achieve the plan in quite a style.

    Its media partner, Media Information Narrative Development (MIND),  went to several such villages, took so many pictures and plans to sell them to people who sympathise with the deprived communities and want to help.

    Residents of such villages as  Kubwa, Karu, Nyanya, Karamajiji, Kuchigoro and a lot of other places buy water from vendors at a huge cost.

    In some communities, residents trek for miles in search of water everyday, something the ambassador of Netherlands John Groffen believes affects their productivity, prevents them from working and being productive enough to make money.

    He explained that unlike most countries, the Netherlands understand the merits and demerits of water since theirs is a country that has experienced several floods of which they have been forced to understand how to manage the excess water to their advantage.

    “It is about raising awareness about the position of poor women living in Nigeria, so we thought of combining the International Women’s Day and Waters Day and come up with a common team and so we came up with water, women and works. So what we try to do with this event which is part of a series of events is to show how fetching water on a daily basis, affects the productivity of women, prevents them from working, from being productive and making money, this exhibition is second in the part of the series of events where we try to raise awareness about the issue.

    “We choose the combination of work, water and women because the Netherlands is a country that is known for water management, we have learnt since centuries to fight against water, we know the importance of water, our country has been flooded many times and we have found ways of protecting our country from flood, we know the danger of water but we also know that water can bring a lot of good.

    “We looked at the similarities, the importance of water in the Netherlands and the importance of water in Nigeria. We decided on the FCT because we have the idea that there are areas in Nigeria that are affected more by the lack of water and if you just travel five minutes, ten minutes out of Abuja, you will be confronted with the reality. So the more people that buy the pictures, the more money we raise, the more that can be done for the specific purpose.

    “MIND is our media partner, we do a lot of programmes with them, the position of women and children, vulnerable elements in the society is something that we focus on and we have been working with them on a couple of projects, also daughters of the Niger delta which is a movie about the situation of women in the area, we do a lot of these projects and this is one of them,” Groffen said.

    The kingdom of Netherlands recently collaborated with MIND to provide potable water to as many communities in the FCT as possible. They visited several of such communities and chronicled their everyday struggle to fetch water, sometimes miles away from their homes. They took pictures of such everyday struggles, enlarged the pictures which where framed and displayed in a gallery, the proceeds from the sale of the pictures will be used to sink boreholes in communities like Kuchigoro, Karamajiji and a lot more.

    Programme Director, MINDS, Ilse Lamoen-Isoun explained that the advantage of these women carrying gallons of water everyday does not only affect their productivity but health because it can lead to severe body aches.

    She said, “The exhibition portrays the water problems that many women here in the FCT face, by water problem we mean inadequate access to clean water, we are trying to show how that impacts women, it’s no news that there is access to water, I think most people already know it but somehow not much is done about it so, we say maybe if we bring out some of the human stories and we really make people feel what it’s like to have to carry all that water for hours through communities or to pay for water with your hard earned money which some of this people don’t have much of anyway but now they have to pay for each and every drop of clean water they want to use, we want to make people feel what it means.”

     

  • Poll orderliness excites minister

    The Federal Capital Territory, (FCT) Minister, Malam Muahammad Bello has praised residents of the FCT for the peaceful manner they conducted themselves during the FCT Area Councils’ election.

    It was just as well that such warm words were coming from  the authorities, for observers believe they will go a long way in encouraging civility and good conduct in a country which often has violent polls.

    Casting ballots in the country has been anything but peaceful in several elections. Guns and other weapons have been deployed by people believed to be hired by desperate politicians.

    The minister monitored the election at the Gwarinpa I District (Life-Camp), Kubwa satellite town and Jiwa Polling Stations.

    He lauded the residents for the mature way they queued up to observe their civic responsibility.

    According to a statement issued by Deputy Director/Chief Press Secretary, Muhammad Sule, the minister urged them to keep the peace as they await the outcome of the exercise.

    The minister said that FCT residents have shown that they are responsible torch-bearers.

    The minister was not happy with the residents; he was excited by the way the security agents ensure peace during the exercise.

    Bello described their action as proactive and professional.

    It was noted that the security agents did not get in the way of the voters nor obstruct the candidates, neither were there any reports of their interference with INEC staff.

  • Budget palaver

    With about a year into the life of the administration of President Muham-madu Buhari, the expected turnaround in the country’s poor profile has been hinged on the implementation of the 2016 Budget.

    The executive believes that its 2016 budgetary proposal to the National Assembly will start to turn around the fortunes of the Nigeria economy when implemented.

    Based on its conviction, it also declared that its main achievements should be measured from the first budget it will implement, which is the 2016 Budget.

    But the fate of the 2016 Budget is now hanging in the balance as massive grey areas between the executive proposal and the figure passed by the National Assembly is working against its assent.

    Beside the removal of N17 billion by the National Assembly from the N6.08 trillion proposal presented by President Buhari on 22nd of December, 2015, the Presidency is grossed that the legislature introduced other projects which were against its core infrastructural development targets.

    Some of the problems the executive uncovered in the budget passed by the legislature included National Assembly’s removal of N60 billion counterpart fund for Coastal Railway project, the Calabar – Lagos rail line project, and reduction of allocation for Idu-Kaduna rail project by N8.7 billion.

    While it reduced allocations for the completion of major road projects in the country, National Assembly was also said to have introduced new road projects whose studies have not been conducted.

    It was also said to have dropped proposals for the purchase of essential drugs for major health campaigns like Polio and AIDS, cancelled and reduced, in some cases, some allocations for diversification projects under Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources.

    Funds for rural health facilities and boreholes were also said to have been diverted by the National Assembly to other projects.

    There is no doubt that the National Assembly is not barred by the constitution from looking at the budgetary proposal from the executive and amending it the way it deems fit.

    Even when there is no need for amendment in a particular budget proposal, the National Assembly may not want to pass the exact figures from the executive in order not to be seen as the rubber stamp of the executive.

    But for executive and legislative harmony and for the interest of the nation, the grey areas in any proposal and any appropriation bill passed by the NASS ought to be minimal.

    The executive now believes that what has been passed by the National Assembly as the 2016 budget has mutilated the executive budget proposal beyond recognition and now impossible to implement.

    With the possible adverse effects delay in implementing the budget will have on Nigerians, it will not be out of place here to dwell a bit on the possible factors that could have led to the wide difference in the President’s budget proposal and what was passed by the National Assembly.

    The reasons for the wide difference might be found in the following posers.

    Has the wide difference got anything to do with the earlier allegation of budget ‘padding’ believed to have been carried out by some civil servants  between the period of the President’s presentation of the budget proposal and when National Assembly resumed from its Christmas and New Year’s break to begin work on the budget?

    Knowing that the National Assembly had raised alarm that a different version of the budget proposal was what it saw before starting work on it, is it possible that it actually worked with a wrong version which introduced the new projects in contention and removed key projects listed in the President’s proposal presented to the National Assembly?

    President Buhari, while addressing the Nigerian Community in Saudi Arabia on the 23rd of February 2016 had vowed to deal with civil servants involved in the budget padding.

    Buhari had said: “The culprits will not go unpunished. I have been a military governor, petroleum minister, military Head of State and headed the Petroleum Trust Fund. Never had I heard the words budget padding. Our Minister of Budget and National Planning did a great job with his team.

    “The Minister became almost half his size during the time, working night and day to get the budget ready, only for some people to pad it.

    “What he gave us was not what was finally being debated. It is very embarrassing and disappointing. We will not allow those who did it to go unpunished.” He stated

    But it is not clear whether those involved in the budget padding then have been identified and silently dealth with by the Presidency or they are still doing what they know how best to do in the system.

    Another possible factor that would have gone a long way to reduce the grey areas in the budget is the issue of lobbying in the preparation of the budget.

    Was the National Assembly properly lobbied and carried along in the preparation of the 2016 budget.

    If that was properly done, it would have made the legislature see things more from the view point of the executive and reduce or totally eliminate grey areas in the two versions.

    The earlier the problems with the 2016 budget are urgently tackled, the better for the country.

    Many Nigerians are already improvised and continued delay in executing projects that will touch their lives and turn around the economy definitely will not be in the interest of the nation.

     

    Shifting the goal post

     

    The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has shifted its position thrice within a month on when fuel queues will disappear in the country.

    Firstly, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu briefed State House correspondents on Wednesday 23rd of March, 2016, telling them that he could not perform magic to end the fuel scarcity in the country and that the earliest time for queues to disappear would be early May.

    On the same day, Kachikwu ate his words when the heat became unbearable on him. He immediately blamed State House correspondents for misrepresentation.

    Barely a week after, precisely Tuesday 29th of March, Kachikwu, again told the Senate Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream) that the fuel queues will ease off on or before the 7th of April.

    That day has come and gone, but Kachikwu was still not able to keep his words as fuel scarcity as at last Friday still persisted across the country.

    As if tired of facing the Nigerian public over the issue, Kachikwu on Wednesday 13th of April, directed NNPC management team led by its Chief Executive Officer (Upstream), Bello Rabiu, to brief State House correspondents on the fuel scarcity.

    And his message to Nigerians was that the few scarcity will end in the next few days.

    It is hoped that the ‘few days’ will not extend to May 2016 otherwise it will mean that what Kachikwu first told State House correspondents, which he later denied, was the reality and everything said after it was to deceive Nigerians who continued to suffer and sleep at petrol stations.

    The three different messages within a month appeared like shifting the goal posts in a football match.

    This, definitely, is not good for the image of the Corporation as it gives the public the impression that those in charge could not even properly assess the situation on ground let alone providing a solution.

     

  • Rural school gets library

    Rural school gets library

    As big as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) might look with all the infrastructures scattered everywhere, one of the greatest challenges facing residents is the nonexistence of a standard library.

    Also one of the furthermost problems educationalists and stakeholders face is the decline in the reading culture of the younger generation whom now prefer learning about life over television and phone screens but in some cases, this younger generations are left with no options without libraries available.

    Most schools in the country, especially some government primary schools in numerous communities in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) do not have the semblance of a library structure talk more of a well equipped library.

    The only books that most of these children whom sometimes are unfortunately poor is just the few exercise and textbooks in their possession, some of them can never imagine what a library looks like or imagine themselves using it and sometimes they can bearly read but finally succour will be coming the way of some of these communities in the FCT as Light Consult Ltd, a Human Resource (HR) Consulting and capacity building firm in collaboration with the Korean Cultural Arts centre have taken it upon themselves to make a change in these communities.

    Financial and HR Manager, Lyght Investment Group, Adenike Aloba explained that the group has adopted the Local Education Authority (LEA) Primary School, Durumi, behind Pape, a school whose classrooms have no doors and windows which they planned to convert to a library for the children.

    The group is now working on painting the structure, putting up doors and windows and furnishing the structure with library furnitures, before setting up enough books and a few computers for the village children.

    The effort which will be the first of its kind in this community will greatly improve the reading culture of the children and equally educate them on the use of computers. Lyght consult explained that What started the initiative is that for them is that they noticed the slack in the reading and learning culture in the country, realising that one can hardly force adults to read either because they are too busy to read or trying to make money, they realized that the best way to improve the reading culture is to take it to children and to the grassroots.

     

     

  • Hospital seeks relocation from rail line

    Hospital seeks relocation from rail line

    The operators of Daughters of Charity Hospital, Byazhin have urged the federal government to relocate their facility to a new site because of the ongoing rail line construction which has disrupted the hospital’s activities.

    Coordinator of the Catholic Church hospital Sister Mary Okoro appealed to the government to keep its promises by giving them the Right of Occupancy (R of O) and Titled Deed Plan (TDP) of the new land.

    Okoro appealed to the federal government to give them the compensation that is due to them. She also asked that “all the social responsibilities the minister asked the Chinese construction company to [fulfil] for the hospital should also be done.

    “That will give us the opportunity to start developing the new site and also relocate so that they (construction company) will continue their work,” she said.

    According to Okoro, “The minister of transport Mr Rotimi Amaechi made it open that the government is going to pay the Hospital N362 million as against N970 million to be used to construct the new hospital.

    “He also made promises that he will get the TDP of the new land within one week but up till now, we have not gotten it. Also, the 200KVA generator which the construction company promised to give to us as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility is yet to arrive the hospital premises, rather an old generator is outside the hospital premises” she said

    The hospital coordinator lamented that there was no written agreement  between the hospital and the federal government, “We had earlier sent messages to the Federal Ministry of Transport and the Chinese company to stop all work until we have come to an agreement but it’s like they have continued their work” while urging that things be written down so as to know who to hold responsible for any damages.

    Okoro said that as a hospital offering social service “the government is supposed to relocate us to a safe place before demolition so that they can continue their work but they have not done this and they are pushing in to demolish where people are, there are lives here. You don’t do this type of demolition where sick people are.”

    Okoro complained that the Chinese while excavating the ground near the hospital “overtook the parking lot where the patients park, so they have no where to park. The access road being narrowed was almost inaccessible to the hospital  and there is so much confusion and stress” adding that no proper barricade was used to indicate the ditch.

    This, she said has put lives at risk because patients coming to the hospital at night can drive into the ditch.

    On the challenges, she said “all of us here are working under terrible conditions. The space is very limited and uncomfortable. We had about 78 beds but now we have only 30. If you go to the ward you will see that we are putting children on admission, two or three on one bed, sometimes when there are many people, we have no bed to put them. They are lying on the floor, some will not like to go elsewhere. Where patients are seating and waiting are not comfortable.

    “It is affecting the convenience of both workers and patients, it has led to great reduction in the amount of money the hospital makes, from 78 beds to 30 beds, so we cannot treat enough patients. There is insecurity in the place now because we don’t know who is coming in because everywhere now seems to be porous.

    “The sisters that own the hospital are staying inside containers since 2years because the government pomised us to leave the hospital within two months, they will relocate us and we thought they were honest to their promise, we left the hospital thinking they would do what they promised, up till now we are there, we left our house to be managing the patients because we have no other place to go.”

    She also disclosed that the Catholic hospital had secured a court injunction restraining the federal government and the construction company from demolishing the hospital but the minister of transportation, Rotimi Amaechi appealed to them and promised to give N362 million for the construction of the new hospital.

    A medical Doctor at the HIV unit of the hospital, Patrick Ezie said “as far as our patients are concerned, this hospital in Kubwa offers top services,” noting that the HIV unit of the hospital was last year rated the best in the country.

    “You can imagine how much of a loss it would be for the FCT to loose such a facility and for us to be begging to be relocated is even very sad because where things are done properly,  that should be the first thing on the mind of the government to ensure that patients continue their care  in a facility that is providing services that government should be providing in the firstplace,” he said.

  • FCT frowns at indiscriminate posters’ pasting

    Henceforth, anyone or organisation found pasting posters indiscriminately will be prosecuted, the Federal Capital Territory Authority (FCTA) has said.

    This warning was issued by the Director of the FCTA’s Department of Outdoor Advertisement and Signage (DOAS), Mallam Ibrahim Yusuf at the commissioning of GEMSROCK, a new ultramodern electronic billboard in Abuja’s Wuse 2 district.

    Yusuf said his department has already taken measures to control the rash of posters and billboards in the city, saying they had approached religious organizations, political parties and businesses to bring the situation under control.

    “There is no way you can solve this problem without going to the source. So we have visited churches and other religious organisations as well as business owners to talk to their members about pasting posters in Abuja,” he said.

    The director said for now they are giving a period of grace after which they will take drastic measures to curtail the trend.

    “If they continue we will soon start to prosecute them,” he said.

    Instead of defacing the city with posters, Mal. Yusuf urged members of the public to engage the services of the many electronic billboards to showcase their products and services.

    While commissioning the installation, the director commended the management of GEMS Communications LTD for installing the ultramodern digital billboard, saying it is at par with what is obtainable in some of the world’s foremost capitals.

    Speaking earlier, the Managing Director of GEMS Communications, Mr. Atilola Odudare said the company invested so much to install the electronic billboard in an attempt to “redefine outdoor by blending emerging technology with the art which is environmentally friendly and enhances the looks of Abuja.”

    He said the electronic billboard built in the shape of a rock and located in the Wuse 2 business hub is designed to complement both the business and aesthetic angles of the capital and called on businesses to take advantage of this by having their products advertised on it.

    According to him, “the billboard is proposed to be the first user friendly billboard in Nigeria and will be interactive with the immediate environment.  It is the first if its kind in out-of-the-box outdoor advertising.”

    Odudare added that, “the product gives users of outdoor exposure to ‘budget as it is programmed’ to deliver time sharing with all accompanying flexibility. It is also web-based product and eliminates the rigors of physical visit to the site by the client; they can view the exposure delivery of the products on their palms.”

  • Villa staff amid fuel scarcity

    Petrol has become one of the most sought-after products in the country. Apart from being used for running generator sets for small businesses and at home, most vehicles depend on the product to move around.

    Considering the country’s endowment with the product, its supply for domestic use ought to be higher than its demand. It should be readily available for Nigerians to buy at every point in time.

    But this is not the case because of the long time abandonment of local refineries and over reliance on fuel importation by past administrations.

    Just like under past administrations, the fuel scarcity under the current administration is fast moving to an alarming rate.

    Costs of transportation of goods and services, due to the fuel scarcity, have continued to push up prices of goods and services and in turn raised inflation rate in almost every product and services within the Nigerian economy.

    Besides the Muhammadu Buhari administration’s plan for a long-term solution such as building new refineries and maintaining existing refineries, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has also mainly taken over importation of fuel from marketers.

    While the generality of Nigerians have continued to suffer under the prevailing circumstances, some State House staff are pushing for special intervention.

    They believed that it will not be a bad idea for an operational petrol station to be located within the Presidential Villa, which staff will have access to.

    Doing that, they said, will make it easy for them to buy fuel especially during period of scarcity.

    Presently, Villa staff don’t have access to the only petrol station in the Presidential Villa cited close to the Vice President’s resident.

    The staff pointed out that such petrol station has long been cited within the National Assembly premises, which has been serving members of staff, management including lawmakers, especially during fuel scarcity.

    Some of the staff wondered why such treatment cannot be extended to State House staff, especially as the petrol station in the National Assembly is located less than two minutes drive from the seat of power via the legislators’ and management’s gate.

    One of the staff, who spoke on a condition of anonymity, said: “We are really going through untold hardship just like most Nigerians. Staff presently cannot buy fuel from the only Petrol station by the Vice President’s residence.

    “We know that allowing staff to buy fuel from that petrol station may cause so much noise and distractions since it are so close to the Vice President’s residence.

    “But they can look into it and set up another petrol station for staff within the Presidential Villa so that we can start enjoying what National Assembly staff have been enjoying for several years,” he added.

    While the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, has promised that the scarcity will disappear in few weeks, there seems to be no guarantee that the ugly trend will not begin again after few weeks of its disappearance.

    The push for setting up such petrol station in the Presidential Villa, no doubt, will boost productivity at the seat of power in the long run.

    It will reduce or eliminate the number of working hours Villa staff waste on long fuel queues.

     

    Useful life for Villa staff on retirement

     

    One of the periods many civil servants and private sector employees rea most is after retirement. Many of them always fear what the future will hold for them as one of the fallout of retirement period is stoppage of their monthly salaries and allowances.

    Before retirement, most of them have, over the years, solely depended on their salaries and allowances for running their homes including educating their children. Some of them with very meager salaries have found it very difficult to make ends meet even while in service.

    They found it almost impossible to have any meaningful savings they could rely on in their retirement period. Because of these, the fear of the retirement period has led to the untimely death of many Nigerians shortly before or after leaving active service. But the Presidency is taking steps to turn the tide.

    The Presidency last Thursday commenced a two-day vocational and entrepreneurial programme to prepare its staff adequately for retirement. Declaring open the workshop for prospective retirees, the State House Permanent Secretary, Mr Jalal Arabi, said that the programme was to prepare them mentally and psychologically for retirement.

    He said: “What the State House has set out to do is to commence a process of early pre-retirement training for potential retirees.

    “This is in the firm belief that adequate planning for retirement will make life after retirement more attractive,”

    The workshop for eighty-one prospective retirees scheduled to retire in 2016 and 2017, trained the staff on livestock, fisheries management, poultry and personal finance planning.

    Other areas addressed at the workshop included ageing and health challenges in retirement, achieving healthy living after retirement, and the implications of the contributory pension scheme on public servants: retirement perspectives.

    While the overall aim of the Presidency is to hold the pre-retirement training at least three to four years before a particular staff retires, it is hoped that it will be sustained to ensure long and eventful life for retirees.