Have dreams and ideas of a blissful retirement? Why not? It is that time of life to take a break from years of hustle and bustle, rest and generally enjoy. Unfortunately, this is not the story for many Nigerian retirees. Instead of looking forward to this new stage of life with glee, they are hunted by the fear of the unknown. Yetunde Oladeinde and Omolara Akintoye write.
It was Workers’ Day in many countries of the world just a few days ago. For many of them all over the country, it was with mixed feelings. While some rolled out the drums to celebrate the many blessings and opportunities that have come their ways, others were burdened with unpaid salaries, unrealised dreams, strangulating economic situations amongst others.
If Nigerian workers were not burdened with issues like minimum wage, unpaid salaries and other entitlements, and if there were no fears of accessing their pensions thereafter, perhaps life after service would be promising and a phase to look forward to. For the average Nigerian worker, the big question is whether they dream, plan or look forward to the day they would retire. Retirement should be a time where one can take life easy, slow down the pace, among other things and generally revel, but are people really prepared for retirement? Is there hope of such luxury?
The Nation on Sunday went to town to feel the pulse of a cross section of Nigerian workers about retirement and their retirement plans, as well as the experience so far with surviving as retirees.
Chuks Vincent Elelegwu is 1st Vice Chairman, Incorporated Trustees of the Association of Ex-Staff of Non-Consolidated Banks of Nigeria, an umbrella body championing the cause of the over 10, 000 ex-bankers who lost their jobs as a result of the consolidation policy introduced by the then Central Bank governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo in 2005.
Forced into retirement, Elelegwu shares the agonies of his colleagues who have remained in dire straits even while still waiting for their severance packages 13 years after their exit from the system.
“I must say that life in retirement in Nigeria is a nightmare. I will say that it is not a pleasant experience by any standard. For instance, we were forced out by the Charles Soludo and Obasanjo’s consolidation in the banks about 13 years ago. Sadly, we have not been compensated at all. They didn’t think about how it would affect us and they just imposed the 35 per cent threshold on everyone. Some of the banks then were big, while others were small but what they did to us was that you cannot do business if you weren’t big,” he said.
Looking painfully at the past thirteen years and the trauma he and his colleagues have passed through, he explodes: “We are still battling to survive. We have had to really cut our coat to size. Where you need to spend ten naira, you manage with three naira. A number of our colleagues who were then on a salary of N350,000 now have to survive on N20,000 or less. I was lucky that my children went to school early. They are now working and that has been the saving grace for me.
In my bank, about 1,750 people were forced into retirement without any plan and nothing to fall back on. Then about 14 banks were affected and about 14,000 workers in all. That forceful retirement didn’t end with us; it has been going on and they just retrench and retire people at will.”
Sadly, he goes down memory lane to recall some cases that brings tears to the eyes. “Just yesterday, I got a call from a colleague who just had stroke. That is part of the fallout of the stress and trauma that he had to go through. There is another, just about 50 years, who was sick and was taken to the hospital. Unfortunately, he died because they could not pay the bills.”
Vincent continued: “Retirement in Nigeria can be so painful. It is a curse to retire in Nigeria. It is not a palatable thing at all,” he lamented.
Many, he informed have therefore resorted to all kinds of strategies for survival. “That is why you have lots of people falsifying their age. As I am talking to you, we have written to the Minister of Labour, the former Senate President, David Mark. We have also written to the office of the Vice President and we have also gone to court but we haven’t been attended to. We were told that since we are registered with CAC, they can’t handle this. They advised that we come as individuals. We are therefore hoping that the next stage will be positive and we have refused to give up. There has never been a year that we haven’t gone there. How can they say that we don’t deserve to be paid?”
For some however, planning over the years has helped them to survive life in retirement.
“My parents worked for government and it was frustrating because they did not get their entitlements when they needed it. It was so sad because he kept on borrowing from family and friends to survive after sacrificing his life for the nation. He died in frustration and that was what made my siblings and I decide never to work for government. My mother was lucky that she finally got what she was entitled to but by the time the money came, it had lost value because of the inflation and cost of living.”
Matilda is a civil servant and farmer in Jos. Inspired by her colleagues, she knew she had to make hay while the sun shines, if she wanted to enjoy life in retirement. “Every day, I attend to my farm and it is already a way of life. By the time I retire, it won’t be difficult to switch because I enjoy this and I actually make more money from farming. It is a passion and I am getting a lot of income from this.”
She goes on to explain that: “In my state, one of the major challenges is the low economy. The economy is really low for the past one year; there has been no payment of salaries for civil servants and the bad part is that the women would have tomatoes and other goods in the market and it would end up rotten. People don’t have money to buy these things and that is where the problem is. It is so sad seeing old women and men struggling to make ends meet here. Even the other products that the women have may spend a whole week with people not able to buy because of lack of funds.”
While retirees are struggling to survive, she noted that the unemployment with the young ones gives her great concern.
“It is not easy for the youths to go to the farm because they do not have the means of getting fertilizer to apply on their farm. For a long time, more than eight years, there hasn’t been employment. There are so many youths roaming about the streets looking for jobs, looking for something to do. I would appeal to the government to quickly tackle the problem of youth unemployment. I know that they cannot give all of them jobs but those that have one skill or the other can be given loans to put those skills into practice.”
Fidelia Ibe, a confidential secretary who works with at the Federal Inspectorate Service, Federal Ministry of Education, Lagos, who will be retiring in six months time is already prepared for her retirement. Her words: “I have been saving towards my retirement in order to have something to fall back on after retirement. Not only that, I am also doing something resourceful so as not to be beggarly after I am retired from active service.”
While Ibe agrees that things are tough, she opines that it is better to do the right thing. For those who out of the fear of retirement are fond of reducing their age, Mrs. Ibe said “You can’t cheat nature. Even if you are reducing your age, at a stage, you won’t be productive any longer; so my advice for such people is that they should put their correct age, so that they can retire at the expected age and still be strong to do some other things.”
Like Ibe, Nkem Okoro is also super excited about retirement. The woman who just retired after 35 years of meritorious service, first as a teacher for five years and 35 years with the Federal Ministry of Education, said retiring at 60 is exciting for her and she would have the opportunity to do the things that she hasn’t been able to do all the while. “The reason for my excitement is that I have always trained people to start planning as early as possible for their retirement. So you can imagine that someone who trained others to save for the rainy days, I would have prepared very well for mine,” she said.
Happily she goes down memory lane recalling how and when she started preparing for her retirement to avoid the trauma other people experience at this stage of their life. “I actually started 10 years ago by ensuring that resources were specially dedicated for that. In addition, I also told my husband three weeks ago that every resource that comes in from now will be dedicated towards our old age,” she said.
Her determination to have a blissful retirement did not end with saving; she went a step further to equip herself with information about retirement.
“I have been planning my retirement for years. I read all the literature about pension and ran all the calculations. I reduced my spending. I got completely out of debt and even added a little padding to my savings. So why should I fear what is supposed to be the best time of my life,” she asked rhetorically.
To survive, Okoro uses this opportunity to advise Nigerians that financial stress is not the only problem people face at this stage of their life. Loneliness and idleness can be very frustrating and it is important to be occupied with things they are passionate about as they go into this next phase of their life.
“I would therefore say that I am not tired or afraid because I am busy and my hands are filled with so many other projects. I keep finding new things and I just launched my fourth book. So, you can see that I am not afraid of retirement at all.”
She adds: “It is a period whereby you will experience low resources, because you won’t get salaries and the other allowances that you are used to. You also need to understand that it is a stage that you also have your health issues to contend with. Nobody prays to be sick but human life span has an end, so it is important that you plan for it.”
76-year-old James Nwankwo goes down memory lane to share the dilemma he went through in the first few years of his retirement. “It was very tough at the beginning because my shop was burgled and all the preparations that I made was messed up. I also had a friend who found retirement so frustrating because his wife had a terminal disease that later claimed her life. Even though his sight was very bad, he took up a job as a driver in the company and he had a number of accidents.”
In spite of the obstacles, Nwankwo made up his mind not to give up. His words: “That challenge made me determine not to give up. I got involved in active work again, helping friends who had a full time business; and because my health was very good, things got better again. Now, I am enjoying life in retirement, running a new business and travelling to see my children and grandchildren who are scattered all over the country.”
From the above, one can deduce that the crux of the matter is planning adequately for one’s financial needs at retirement.
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In the developed countries around the world, life at retirement is easy because certain measures are put in place to gauge individual needs, family responsibilities, state of health as well as life expectancy.
Experts also inform that living in a foreign land offers a chance to see more of the world and can offer a lower cost of living. As of January 2018, more than 674,700 social security benefit payments were made to Americans living outside the United States.
International Living’s Annual Global Retirement Index also highlights the best countries for retirees each year, and this year’s top 10 list features eight Spanish-speaking countries, seven of them in Central and South America and the last is Spain itself.
