Retirement is a dreaded word in Nigeria. There have been instances where some Nigerian civil servants and other ill-assorted workers have had to doctor their ages such that their official documents state that they started their working life before they were born! If it’s possible, some would want to remain in permanent employment even after they had dropped dead – especially now that pensions and gratuities are hardly ever paid in Nigeria. The perks of office are so hard to do away with.
It is indeed remarkable that a lionized Nigerian don has made a strong statement that there is life after retirement. Professor Martin Chuks Muo – B.Sc (Kansas, USA), MPA (Texas, USA), Ph.D (Washington, USA) – on December 28, 2024 presented his Retirement Lecture entitled “Retirement Challenges and Financial Anxiety Among Nigerian Retirees” to mark the end of his distinguished service at the Department of Public Administration, Faculty of Management Services, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State.
Prof Muo starts out with the statement: “Life comes in stages and each stage of life throws up its own challenges and opportunities.” He cites the Biblical truism of Ecclesiastes 3:1, to wit: “To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under the heaven, a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted.”
Retirement has to be planned ahead of time, Prof Muo asserts, for the harvest of work to be reaped. Even as retirement could be voluntary, mandatory or compulsory, the worker must perforce be ready and prepared for the inevitable.
Work may be seen as punishment or obligation in religious terms while amongst the Greeks manual labour is rated low and looked down upon when compared with intellectual work that is highly rated. In Igbo society, as depicted in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, Prof Muo states that “work is substantiated”.
Whether work is seen in perspectives “as a duty to fulfil their predestined calling”, or as being central to man, it is of essence to accept work as “a basic need for human existence.”
According to Prof Muo, “Retirement simply refers to a situation where an individual is formally or officially stopped from an active work role and it is often perceived as the realization of a life goal.” Prof Muo’s assertion that “it represents one of the happiest time of one’s life” is debatable. The retiring worker gets rewarded with gratuity and other retirement benefits.
The personable Prof highlights that “in Nigeria, due to economic crunch and high rate of unemployment, the minimum legal age for mandatory retirement was put at 60 until recently when the Federal Government of Nigeria pegged it at 65 years for academic and non-academic staff, and 70 years for those on professorial cadre.”
Prof Muo stresses that it has “become necessary for employees to plan for their retirement early in their career because of unforeseen circumstances, such as sudden unexpected rationalization, ailments setting in as a result of old age, high inflation rate, exchange rate volatility, mass unemployment and high economic uncertainties in order to avoid spending their post-retirement years in abject poverty.”
Lack of preparation for retirement can lead to financial anxiety disorder, the symptoms and aspects of which can include: overspending, hoarding, fear of spending, uncontrollable finances, depression, and obsessive behaviour.
There is this lament by Prof Muo that in the post-independence years “as Nigerians took over the process of governance, it became apparent that they could not sustain the glory of retirement.” Retirement in the course of time intervolves sundry sources and reasons, notably: handing over the baton, obsolete technology, the aging process of the workforce, upward mobility, diminishing returns, competition for scarce resources, globalisation, innovation and modernisation, development, downsizing, change and change management, voluntary retirement, involuntary retirement, lay-offs, flexible retirement, redundancy, discharge of staff, and termination of appointment.
The challenges associated with retirement are multiform, including loss of the paraphernalia of office such as company car, house, medical insurance, club facilities, canteen, recreational activities etc.
There is the telling loss of an already cultivated lifestyle alongside the loss of a regular income. Lack of motivation becomes a clear and present danger together with the loss of self-esteem.
The manifestation of family problems can be telling, as Prof Muo highlights that there is no longer the kick of “Honey, I am home” because one is always at home after retirement.
The comradeship, companionship and relationships that took more than 30 years to establish can no longer be maintained. There is the nagging realisation as a senior citizen that the grave is nearby.
The retiree somewhat gets the feeling of dejection, of being an outcast, expired, irrelevant, unwanted, or becoming a deadwood, as one-time Governor of Anambra State would have it. Boredom can then lead to disaster until death supervenes.
It is incumbent on the retiree to up the ante of happiness through exercise, volunteer work and continuing education.
For Prof Muo, the individual going into retirement as per entering a new phase of life should be armed thusly: Define the level of income you desire; envision your retirement activities; project your retirement needs; create a retirement savings plan; diversify your investment portfolio; and continuously monitor and adjust the goals.
The splendid work done by Prof Martin Chuks Muo in his retirement lecture deserves to be resourced by all workers. It is indeed a fitting finale from the dean of dons.