CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION

Background to the study

Globally, the population of people is aging rapidly. Both the number and proportion of people aged 65 years and above are increasing, although at different rates in different parts of the world (Marshal, 2013). The number of older adults has risen more than threefold since 1950, from approximately 130 million to 619 million in 2010, with the elderly share of the population increasing from 4 percent to 7 percent during that period (Waite & Hughes, 2014). In Nigeria, those aged 65 years and above make up about 4.3 percent of the total population which was put at 140,431,790 million according to 2006 population exercise (NPC, 2006). The population of elderly (age 65+) in Nigeria is on the increase as the mortality rates are gradually reducing. (Khema, 2008). Among these elderly are the retirees who deserve to be empowered through retirement education programmes.

Retirement is simply an exit from active service. Retirement means to stop or withdraw from working because one has reached a particular age; either by chronological age or by virtue of years spent in service (Terry, 2011). Whether one likes it or not, the certainty of one leaving work in either of the aforementioned ways cannot be ruled out. It has been postulated by Elezua (2008) that the moment retirement comes knocking on the door (of an employee) it enters with challenges

and expectations. Retirement is typically associated with attendant stress for the average employee especially in a country like Nigeria. Elvis (2008) noted that retirement is a stressful experience to many because of its associated challenges in the matter of life affairs generally. Retirement is usually a period of major changes in the lives of public servants.

Retirement has been variously categorized depending on the orientation or perception of the classifier. According to Akinade (2003), retirement can be broadly grouped into three namely; compulsory or forced retirement, voluntary retirement and mandatory retirement. He further explicated that compulsory or forced retirement is often imposed on an employee by the employer for various reasons at times on grounds of ill-health, mental or physical incapability and so on. Voluntary retirement is associated with personal withdrawal from active service by an employee having put in the required years of service for eligibility for retirement. This, in most cases, may be due to personal satisfaction or dissatisfaction with work schedule or vocational life style. However, mandatory is said to occur when an employee is made to withdraw his/her service from a long- time work schedule having attained the mandatory retirement age/duration according to the organization’s policy.

Retirement in Nigerian civil service is guided by Decree 102 of 1979 (cap 346) which deals with pensions and gratuity. According to this law, the statutory age of retirement of public officers is 60 years while it is 65 years for judicial officers and academic staff of universities (Musa, 2014). However, with the reform of the civil service decree No. 43 of 1988 retirement age has been put at 60 years or 35years in service whichever comes first. However, the Retirement Age Harmonization Act of 2012 puts the retirement age of judicial officers and academic staff of tertiary institutions at 70 and 65 years respectively because of the belief that the “older , the wiser ” in those sectors (Odegbami, 2014). Nevertheless, whether they stay up to 70 years and above in active service, they must be called retirees some day in their lives.

An employee must eventually answer a “retiree” one day in his life. A retiree is an employee who ceases to work in the public sector or private sector for an obvious reason. (Simon, 2010). A retiree is a person who stopped or withdrew from working because he has reached a particular age; either by chronological age or by virtue of years spent in service (Terry, 2011). A retiree is a worker who has reached the peak of his carrier in the public service system or private sector establishment and was compelled to bow out of the system to avoid a diminishing return. A retired civil servant can either be a male or a female.

Retired civil servants in Nigeria deserve to be offered some post-retirement benefits like life insurance, medical plans, dental care, vision care, legal services and tuition credits. Akinade (2003) is of the view that considering their immense input towards national development of this country, they merit adequate food, clothing, shelter, reasonable national minimum living wage, old age care, pensions and sick benefits. Retired civil servants need to be given an intensive care and social support from their family members, friends, relations, government and the society at large. But irrespective of the type of retirement, the transition is associated with some post-retirement challenges among retirees in Kogi State.

Post-retirement challenges are some difficulties experienced by employees after they have retired from active service. A close observation of many retirees in Kogi State and the challenges they were passing through, draw the attention of all and sundry. These problems seem to range from sudden loss of life, loss of the usual monthly pension, anxiety about a residential home, lack of post-retirement occupation, declining self-esteem, decreased strength and deteriorated health condition, physical disabilities and aging. In Kogi State, the delay in payment of pensions and gratuities has brought untold hardship and death to many retirees, thereby making retirement something that is dreaded by workers. This problem is further compounded by lack of planning and management of post-retirement changes of conditions. Obviously, many people enter into retirement without any

personal plans or pre-retirement counselling. Employers of labour on their own part have not done much to enlighten the labour force on the need for planning for retirement. Hence, many workers enter into retirement unplanned. Retirees in Kogi State today are more like beggars especially those who retire without planning. Thus, these aforementioned post-retirement challenges ravaging retirees in Kogi State justify the need for retirement education programmes in a bid to empower retirees in the state.

Education is the act or process of imparting or acquiring general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment, and generally of preparing oneself or others intellectually for mature life. Terry (2011) sees education as the wealth of knowledge acquired by an individual after studying particular subject matters or experiencing life lessons that provide an understanding of something. Gorman (2012) stated that retirement education programmes are forms of education whose major objectives are geared toward improvement of workers, individuals, and group competencies and advancement of their social, economic and cultural interests, so that they can become current, wise and responsible citizens.

Retirement education programmes are educational programmes, advocacy and edification offered to help employees make a smooth transition to retirement and provide them with the tools they need to sustain themselves as retirees.

Retirement education programmes also aimed at helping retirees in understanding their problems and taking actions in solving them. It also helps retirees to become positive thinkers and contented citizens. Elvis (2011) disclosed that through retirement education programmes, the orderly development of retirees in their union is ensured. With it, general standard of living of retirees can be raised. It enhances retirees’ skills, knowledge, techniques, etc, and hence high productivity is ascertained.

Retirement education programme is vital to retirees. Imhabekhai (2008:7) submits that “retirement education programme provides retirees the opportunities to acquire new skills relevant to their day-to-day operations and also to renew outdated and irrelevant skills”. With those skills retirees will become more proficient, efficient and effective in carrying out their private duties. In addition, retirement education programme aims at producing an educated, informed, professional and self reliant group of retirees whose eyes are opened and always at alert to resist any form of oppression. Remath (2010) stated that these programmes can be conducted through workshops, online, modeling, software, and other support material to help retirees develop a clear vision of their future.

There are many forms of retirement education programmes practiced by people in different parts of the world. According to Marshal (2013), there are three components of retirement education programmes. They include family life

education, entrepreneurship education and cooperative education. Marshal (2013) stated that family life education (FLE) is any effort to strengthen family life through education or support, and can include anything from teaching about relationships in schools to providing a parent’s day out. Oniye (2010) stated that family life education is a form of community education, both preventive and developmental in nature, intended to educate the public on the importance of family life and how it can be sustained. Entrepreneurship education is a kind of retirement education organized to provide retirees with the knowledge, skills and motivation to encourage entrepreneurial success in a variety of settings. Variations of entrepreneurship education are offered at all levels of schooling from primary or secondary schools through graduate university programs (European Union Commission, 2011).

Cooperative education is another form of retirement education. Lemony (2011) defined cooperative education (or co-operative education) as a structured method of combining classroom-based education with practical work experience. A cooperative education experience, commonly known as a "co-op", provides academic credit for structured job experience. Cooperative education is taking on new importance in helping young people to make the school-to-work transition, service learning, and experiential learning initiatives (Salmon, 2010). Cooperative education is also the use of active participation methods in which retirees learn

how to work together to solve problems. This is normally founded on the principles of retirees's rights, equality, equity and participation in decision-making (Lemony, 2011). Its methods include game playing, expressing opinions, democratic participation, sharing, ensuring students all have an equal opportunity to take part, and conflict resolution. However, there are constraints to the use of retirement education programmes for the empowerment of retirees in Kogi State.

The fund used in establishing and running retirement education programme seems to be grossly inadequate. Kanad (2013) stated that lack of proper funding is the bane of retirement education programme. Many retirees do not likely have access to retirement education programme. Many interested retirees seem not to be aware of the existence of the retirement education programme centres and even the programmes they are supposed to enroll. There seems to be an inadequate number of instructors or personnel in the teaching of retirement education programme. There seems to be dearth of skilled manpower in the area of monitoring and evaluation in retirement education programme. There seems to be a problem of record keeping in retirement education programme. This may have seriously affected the database needed for adequate planning and implementation of retirement education programme. Retirees seem to exhibit poor attitude towards retirement education programme as most of them have not really embraced the programme. There seems to be no proper mobilization of retirees to come and

embrace retirees education programmes so as to achieve the desired results. Considering the aforementioned constraints of retirement education programme, it is pertinent to seek for strategies in curbing the constraints in a bid to ensure empowerment of retirees in Kogi State.

Empowerment is a way of helping people to become self-reliant. According to Dallas (2008), empowerment refers to policies and measures designed to increase the degree of autonomy and self-determination in the lives of people and in communities in order to (re-)enable them to represent their interests in a responsible and self-determined way, acting (again) on their own authority. Empowerment refers both to the process of self-empowerment and to professional support of retirees, which enables them to overcome their sense of powerlessness and lack of influence, and to recognise and eventually use their resources and chances (Erachun, 2013). The term empowerment is also used for an accomplished state of self-responsibility and self-determination.

However, it seems that no researcher has explored retirement education programmes as veritable tools for the empowerment of retirees in recent time, especially in Kogi State. It is against this backdrop that the researcher dimmed it fit to practically investigate retirement education programmes for the empowerment of retirees in Kogi State of Nigeria.

Statement of the problem

Retirement is a phase of an individual’s life which must be planned for and anticipated with a great sense of fulfillment. The security and welfare of retiring civil servants should be a top priority of the government. Retired civil servants deserve some post-retirement benefits like life insurance, medical plans, dental care, vision care, legal services and tuition credits. A retiree is supposed to be provided with adequate food, clothing, shelter, reasonable national minimum living wage, old age care, pensions and sick benefits. Retired civil servants deserve an intensive care and social support from their family members, friends, relations, government and the society at large.

However, retired civil servants in Kogi State seem to be pestered by many post-retirement challenges. These challenges seem to range from sudden loss of life, loss of the usual monthly salary, anxiety about a residential home, lack of occupation, dwindling status, decreased strength and deteriorated health condition, physical disabilities and aging. The delay in payment of pensions and gratuities has brought untold hardship and death to many retirees, thereby making retirement something that is dreaded to workers In Kogi State. This problem is further compounded by lack of planning and management of post-retirement change of conditions.

Many people enter into retirement without any personal plans or pre- retirement counselling. Employers of labour on their own part are not helping matters as they refrain from enlightening the labour force on the need for planning for retirement. Thus, many employees enter into retirement unplanned. Retirees in Kogi State today are more like beggars especially those who retire without planning. Therefore, the problem of this study is to investigate the retirement education programmes that can be utilized for the empowerment of retirees in Kogi State of Nigeria to enable them cope with retirement challenges.

Purpose of the study

The purpose of the study is to investigate retirement education programmes for the empowerment of retirees in Kogi State of Nigeria. Specifically, the study seeks to:

(i)                Determine the extent to which family education programme help in the empowerment of retirees in Kogi State;

(ii)             Determine the extent to which entrepreneurship education programme help in the empowerment of retirees in Kogi State;

(iii)           Examine the extent to which cooperative education programme help in the empowerment of retirees in Kogi State;

(iv)           Examine the constraints to the use of retirement education programmes for the empowerment of retirees in Kogi State;

(v)              Find out the strategies to curb the constraints to the use of retirement education programmes for the empowerment of retirees in Kogi State.

Significance of the study

The study will be of colossal benefit to retirees, prospective retirees, government and future researchers. The findings of this study will reveal the retirement education programmes that can be adopted to empower retirees which will help them attain a better life even at old age. This study will acquaint prospective retirees with the importance of retirement education programmes and urge them to participate in some of these programmes which will help them make adequate planning for their retirement. The finding of this study will be useful to the government. It will acquaint the government at all level with the benefits of retirement education programmes. It will encourage the government to design and organize retirement education programmes for her civil servants. This will help them make adequate preparation for their upcoming retirement. The findings of this study will be added to the existing literatures. Future researchers in a similar field of study will also find the results of this study very interesting and useful. It will serve as a reference point to future researchers.

Research questions

The following research questions guided the study.

(i)                To what extent does family education programme help in the empowerment of retirees in Kogi State?

(ii)             To what extent does entrepreneurship education programme help in the empowerment of retirees in Kogi State?

(iii)           To what extent does cooperative education programme        help    in the empowerment of retirees in Kogi State?

(iv)           What are the constraints to the use of retirement education programmes for the empowerment of retirees in Kogi State?

(v)              What are the strategies to curb the constraints to the use of retirement education programmes for the empowerment of retirees in Kogi State?

Hypotheses

The following null hypotheses guided the study and were tested at .05 level of significance:

HO1 There will be no significant difference in the mean responses of male and female retirees on the extent to which family education programme help in the empowerment of retirees in Kogi State.

HO2 There will be no significant difference in the mean responses of male and female retirees on the extent to which entrepreneurship education programme help in the empowerment of retirees in Kogi State.

HO3 There will be no significant difference in the mean responses of male and female retirees on the extent to which cooperative education programme help in the empowerment of retirees in Kogi State.

HO4 There will be no significant difference in the mean responses of male and female retirees on the constraints to the use of retirement education programmes for the empowerment of retirees in Kogi State.

HO5 There will be no significant difference in the mean responses of male and female retirees on the strategies to curb the constraints to the use of retirement education programmes for the empowerment of retirees in Kogi State

Scope of the study

The study was delimited or restricted to retirees in Kogi State of Nigeria. The study investigated retirement education programmes for the empowerment of retirees in Kogi State of Nigeria. It was geared toward determining family education, entrepreneurship education, and cooperative education as ways of empowering retirees. It also looked at the constraints to the use of retirement education programme, and strategies to curb the constraints to the use of retirement education programmes for the empowerment of retirees in Kogi State of Nigeria.