By Halima Muhammad
The Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC) on Wednesday in Abuja, inaugurated a pre-retirement programme themed ”Sustainable Opportunities for Active Retirement (SOAR)” aimed at providing guidance to civil servants for life after retirement.
Speaking at the event, the Executive Director, NEPC, Mrs Nonye Ayeni, said that the initiative was born out of the council’s commitment to promoting inclusive economic participation.
Ayeni also said that it was aimed at ensuring that public servants approaching retirement were empowered to embrace new opportunities.
According to her, retirement should not be viewed as the end of productive engagement, but rather as the beginning of a new chapter.
”They say you retire to refire, so it’s the beginning of a new chapter filled with opportunities to deploy years of experience, discipline, and leadership towards building sustainable enterprises.”
She revealed that with President Bola Tinubu’s support under The Renewed Hope Agenda, SOAR intended to guide participants into the profitable path of non-oil exportation.
”We are going to open you to many opportunities, and by the end of this programme you will be clear about what you need to do,” she said.
Ayeni urged other government agencies to create other initiatives that would guide retirees to a better life after service.
The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs Didi Walson-Jack, urged civil servant to be relevant even after retirement.
Walson-Jack represented by Dr Danjuma Usman, Permanent Secretary, Common Services, Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, commended the NEPC for the initiative.
She urged other relevant agencies to establish similar programmes to help civil servants after serving the federation.
”Don’t go into retirement with trial and error. One will have to identify what he or she can be able to do and get it done very well.
”Being the maiden edition, we hope that the council will be able to sustain the initiative and other MDAs and government will key into it,” she said.
Meanwhile some participants have lauded the programme, describing it as timely and impactful.
A participant from the Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC), Mrs Zainab Ochojila described the initiative as timely and impactful.
”If this has been put in place before now, I don’t think retirees will be complaining or suffering,” she said.
She added that with an iniative like SOAR, civil servants would retire with confidence rather than with fear of life after service.
Another participant, Mr Gabriel Odu said many civil servant often approach retirement with fears, adding that with initiatives like SOAR, the fears were being wind out.
He noted that some even die because of fear of retirement, adding that it shouldn’t be so. Retirement should be another step.
Odu added that the initiative was very important because it had opened up avenues to skills development, digital commerce and access to international markets through non-oil exports.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the inauguration was attended by more than 100 civil servants from different Ministries,Departments and Agencies (MDAs).(NAN)(www.nannews.com)
Edited by Deborah Coker