The Need For Early Preparation For Civil Service Retirement By Moshood Suleiman

Just like death which must come when it will come, the concept of retirement too is akin to that inevitability of any race in life which has a beginning and an end.

As people dread the mere mention of death even at old age, same is the frown and apprehension coupled with great anxiety that would be readily displayed on the face of an average civil or public servant the moment the subject matter of retirement is being mentioned and discussed.

It is a paradigm which he or she loathes with great great disdain and consternation. In fact it is like sounding a death knell to a great many people who are still in the service whenever you mention the word retirement.

What would become of me when I retire ? Where would I start from ?

What would I be doing to make both ends meet ? Would I still be enjoying the usual respect , honour and attention that I am presently enjoying after calling it quit from the civil service as a result of retirement ?

All these and other disturbing questions among others would be agitating the mind of a would be retiree in service! To some people mere mention of it is like opening an old wound. It is so painful.

But the question is ; as a civil servant who is still beaming with life as a careerist , don’t you think the very day you earn your employment letter is the very day retirement stares you in the face ?

To retire simply means quitting the stage for others who will take over from where you stop from and who in turn too will take over but will also definitely leave one day for others too to take over from them. What goes around must definitely come around. It is cyclical .

Like clock which tick tocks into seconds, minutes and eventually hours graduating into ,days,weeks,
months and years ,the 30 or 35 years as the case may be in a government paid employment will, unarguably roll by day by day and come to an end one day.

And a question will again resurface in your conscious and
sub conscious mind ; what have I been able to put in place all these years that will see me through the remaining new beginning of another life in retirement.

On a moral ground too another nagging question that will equally be a recurring decimal in your mind begging for an instant answer is ; have I been able to make a reasonable impact on those whom fate has made me to be their boss while still in service ?

Now that I am quitting what becomes of me before these subbordinates who after my departure would take over the mantle of leadership from me ?

Have I been fair and good enough to warrant their love,help ,respect and even attention after leaving the service ?
Another validly factual question is; after retirement would I still be strong enough to fend for myself and my family ?
After retirement, you will as a matter of fact become an O-Y-O.
(ON YOUR OWN)

The last but not the least of other disturbing but equally important question is ; whether you have been able to save enough for the proverbial rainy day before your retirement ?

While all these posers are not in anyway intended to instill the usual fear,anxiety and apprehension in you as a civil servant who is still on the pay roll of government ,the time to know that retirement stares you in the face is now.
It is a fact which is as sure as day and night. It must come to pass.

It is against this backdrop that all and sundry still collecting monthly income called salary must embark on early preparation for retirement.
You must make hay while the sun shines

This is akin to an insurance for when the body and soul would not be strong again with the contending realities of retirement ,which are loneliness, boredom , anxiety and of course old age which again on its own has many attendant ups and downs.

For now the rule of the game is to make sure you plan ahead very well. Make a futuristic calculation and projection.

It is incumbent on you not to eat with the proverbial ten fingers at the same time . The importance of having a reasonable percentage of your monthly income and allowances which you now enjoy to be dedicated to a special account that you will later fall on later in life is sacrosanct. This will be like a ready made money in form of a windfall the moment you take a bow from the civil service.

In addition, it is advised that while in active service,give active years of your day to day activities to bettering the lot of your subordinates whom you will from time to time come across later I life in your new life of retirement .

Enhance the living standard of your subbordinates in a positive and meaningful way. In other words, make an indelible impacts that will continue to endear you to them after you must have attained your new status of a SENIOR CITIZEN.

The remaining years ahead of you in the service may still look long but be the wise type that will embrace the fact that just like human existence , what you have left is still very very short. Dont be in a fools paradise believing that it is still long.

Another life begins after retirement. Make early preparation in this regard please.The time to start that preparation is NOW !!!

Moshood Suleiman of the Osun State Broadcasting Corporation (OSBC) writes from Osogbo.