Employees’ Post-service Plans and Options in Nigeria

Abstract

One of the greatest challenges that faced typical employees throughout their working life is life after retirement. Despite government roles at providing social security, retirement epoch has been a tension provoking and overwhelming phenomenon in Nigeria and other emerging economies of Africa, Asia and Latin America. A close observation of many retirees in Nigeria society and the problems they are facing draw the attention of all and sundry. These problems seem to range from sudden death, dwindling status, lack of occupation, loss of the usual monthly salary, decreased strength and deteriorated health condition, physical disabilities, aging and anxiety about a residential home. In Nigeria, the regular non-payment of pensions and gratuities benefits has brought untold hardship and sudden death to many retirees, thereby making retirement something that is dreaded by workers. This problem is further compounded to lack of planning and management of post-service epoch and conditions. It is against this backdrop that this paper seeks to identify and discusses strategies available for managing post-service condition in Nigeria. The paper calls on Nigerian workers to embrace one of the options to remain moderately productive and healthy after retirement. The paper suggests, among others, that both employers and government should undertake regular pre-retirement training for their workers in order to save the country the embarrassment of seeing their retirees going to early graves or turning into destitute on the streets.

Delayed payment of gratuity, pension, and post-retirement conditions

“…These obstacles resulted in the 2014 Pension Reform Act, which repeals the 2004 Pension Reform Act. Okolie (2021) thinks that the 2014 Pension Reform Act is not without flaws. While workers' reluctance and skepticism about registering with Pension Fund Administrators has been decreased.…”

“…Physical disabilities and ageing: According to researchers such as Ali (2014) and Okolie (2021) certain challenges are related to old age, notably for employees who may not have planned for their retirement. These issues include intellectual, physical, behavioral, emotional, and spiritual origins related to their feelings about retirement.…”

“…Retirees' income is drastically reduced when they retire. The delay in the distribution of retirement benefits such as pensions and gratuities may exacerbate this drop in income (Okolie 2021). Indeed, in Nigeria, particularly in the public sector, it is general knowledge that pension payments to retirees are not adequately coordinated.…”

“…According to research, employees in most public and private sectors are not appropriately exposed to pre-retirement training before being discharged from employment. Many firms, particularly in the private sector, have done little to educate their employees on the need for retirement planning (Abdullahi & Jummai 2014;Nweke 2014;Eremie 2015;Akpan 2017;Kida & Sambo 2018;Okolie 2021). As a result, many employees are left destitute when they retire.…”

“…There has been a lot written about Nigeria's old pension scheme, the reasons for its failure, and the flaws in the new pension system, and the effects of both the old and new pension schemes on pensioners' wellbeing (Fapohunda 2013;Ali 2014;Nweke 2014;Abdulazeez 2015;Fiiwe 2020;Okolie 2021). Despite these numbers of studies, no study exists on the effect of delayed payment of gratuity and pension on retirees' desire to maintain their status quo in Nigeria.…”