Beyond Post-Retirement Euphoria

L-R: The Controller of Prisons, Kebbi State, Alhaji Yazidu Alhassan, Chief Judge of Kebbi State, Mr Bala Mairiga, Chief Registrar of the State, Mr Abubakar Sadiq and his Sharia Court counterpart, Alhaji Shehu Randali, during the visit of the Chief Judge to Birnin Kebbi old prisons, last Monday.

Everyone approaching
retirement in his service area be it in the public or private sector, contemplates a better life, though not for the ‘rural dwellers’ as conceptualised by the late Maryam Babangida, but a better life for himself and probably his household.
He goes a step further to choose a trade he could engage himself in and probably amass all the wealth he could not afford to access all through his years in service. At this stage, supposed to be the planning days, his thought is predominantly guarded by the anticipated ‘much’ gain he stands to make, the ‘how’ to bring about the proceed matters less if at all.
Unfortunately, many of these retirees always settle for farming as their post-retirement resort, probably because they must have had a friend, relative or neighbour who owns a farming venture; they must have also seen him roll out his proceeds in thousands and may have as well in their own way unraveled how much money he makes in a month without considering the monthly returns side by side with the monthly expenditure.
The retirement finally dawns and retirement package handed over to the retiree. Wao! What an enormous package? What an eventual heaven on earth at last? Which exhaustion is never envisaged and guess what, apart from the usual initial spending spree that announces a boost in one’s financial status, his adventure into a post-retirement life or resort begins as he simply approaches an older hand in his chosen field of endeavour. All that matters to him is the physical resource requirement for such trade and probably the financial involvement. All these pose no threat at all, after all, the money is there.
The writer has not chosen this issue to make jest or mockery of retirees, it has rather become a matter of concern, given the spate at which retirees, pick up a trade after retirement only to abandon it in a hurry as though it was too hot for them to manage. This has led concerned minds to asking how much of the trade  they know before they undertook it, was there no feasibility study?
Much as we believe that money has a spirit, we were also told that spirits are under the control of their masters and are, therefore, subservient to them too. If that be the case, why will any mature adult whose retirement did not come unannounced not take time to plan for how to manage the leaving package at his disposal, knowing well that monthly salaries have become history?
According to G.T. Williams “modern economic pressures are such that no one could contemplate a future in farming until he first acquires a reliable up-to-date knowledge in every aspect of animal husbandry.” Like every field of endeavour, poultry farming is one sector of farming which requires more than any other, a careful application of managerial expertise, if one’s capital investment is to be safeguarded and profitable returns expected.
The usual orientation of backyard poultry predominant in the western region of Nigeria has beclouded many potential farmers’ sense of reasoning, leaving many with the psyche that poultry business is an all-comers affair; one that could be started at anytime, anywhere, without adequately determining the cost of commitment.
This has not just led to an abrupt abortion and abandonment of any such ventures, but had in most cases, devastated many homes which had put in fortunes out of their retirement benefits, just to make ends through poultry farming. However, if we must get it right, then the words of some philosophers which state that “potential masters are known by good stewardship” must not be undermined. The quest and crave to make quick wealth have rendered many financially crippled, as they prefer to adopt the tricks of the trade instead of acquiring the skills of the trade. Is it not more honourable to teach and have mastery than to cheat and die in misery?
There is every need to be more careful when life earnings are at jeopardy, especially when we realise that the steps taken to realise a goal can either make or mar the eventual achievement of such goal.
If the thought of G.T. Williams be anything to go by, then, how much knowledge of any trade a potential undertaker has, must be a prerequisite entry requirement into such trade.
Obviously, the level of acquaintance any potential businessman should have with his business of choice must go beyond the mere spelling and pronunciation of such business name as is the case with many. This, of course, does not condemn any partnership arrangement where supposed experts are co-opted to build a business from where the ignorant owner would learn.
To many potential retirees with poultry farming as a post-retirement resort, that is no less a noble idea, but the need to guard one’s loins against the storms becomes imperative, especially when huge life savings are involved.

Sylvia ThankGod-Amadi