CHAPTER ONE

Retirement is the withdrawal from one’s position or occupation or from one’s active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours. Many people choose to retire when they are eligible for private or public pension benefits, although some are forced to retire when bodily conditions no longer allow the person to work any longer (by illness or accident) or as a result of legislation concerning their position. In most countries, the idea of retirement is of recent origin, being introduced during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Previously, low life expectancy and the absence of pension arrangements meant that most workers continued to work until death. Germany was the first country to introduce retirement benefits in 1889 (The German Precedent, 2006).

Nowadays, most developed countries have systems to provide pensions on retirement in old age, which may be sponsored by employers or the state. In many poorer countries, support for the old is still mainly provided through the family. Today, retirement with a pension is considered a right of the worker in many societies, and hard ideological, social, cultural and political battles have been fought over whether this is a right. In many western countries this right is mentioned in national constitutions.

Retirement might coincide with important life changes; a retired worker might move to a new location, for example a retirement community, thereby having less frequent contact with their previous social context and adopting a new lifestyle. Often retirees volunteer for charities and other community organizations. Tourism is a common marker of retirement and for some becomes a way of life, such as for so-called grey nomads. Some retired people even choose to go and live in warmer climates in what is known as retirement migration.

A sweet and enjoyable post retirement life demands that certain capital or income generating production/service outfit(s) be put in place beforeretirement.Every striving worker in the 21st century should know that the Nigerian economy is facing serious challenges, hence, there is need for pre-retirement planning strategies to combat and manage the impending pains and stress in retirement. Retirement plan should not beover looked by any worker considering the fact that labour wage in Nigeria is far from being a living wage. Planning is the first stage in the retirement management process. The need to be prepared and plan for retirement in conformity with the organization policy cannot be over emphasized.Eyibe and Eyibe (2000) stressed that planning ahead will enable an individual to look atall the factors that have bearing on life in retirement and pursue the realities from the on-set. The mind to plan in the first place is enough social security for post-retirement living. When this is done, it makes the future a better place to live and it helps to increase the chances of longevity of the retiring officer.

Planning makes retirement meaningful in the sense that the retiring officer will no longer rely on traditional family arrangements for livelihood, income and other forms of social security provisions at post-retirement. In other words, in addition to the epilepticgovernment pension plan, workers shouldalso make every effort to have their own pension plan.Kolawole and Mallum(2004), observed that where adequate planning are nursed, frustration and anxiety in retirement will be eliminated.It is equally observed around the globe that workers who fail to planfor retirement always experience some avoidableproblems in post-retirement life, such as: health issues, loneliness, misappropriation of fund, etc.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Retirement or termination of work signifies aperiod of major change in the life of public servants. Such changes are usually devastating and traumatic inthe life of the retiree, especially when the personconcerned did not prepare for this phase of life. Theadverse psychological and socio-economic dispositionidentified to characterize retired civil servants due tofunctional discontinuation of their regular financialsource of livelihood and its corresponding decline insocial status cannot be overstated. Such challengesinclude financial insufficiency, poor feeding, dysfunctionalfamily matters as well as psychological orbehaviour disorders like depression, hypertension,identity crisis, alcoholism, loneliness, fast ageing and illhealth occasioned at times by lots of good accommodation among others. (Denga, 1986; Tokurboh, 1998).Some also experience loss of self-esteem due to lowerstatus in which they find themselves on retirement froma highly exalted position they had occupied as publicservants. There is need therefore to investigateemployees’ perception and attitude towards thephenomenon. This is with the view of carrying out orrecommending.

1.3     RESEARCH QUESTION

1. Should civil servants plan towards retirement?
2. Should civil servants rely on the government for retirement scheme?
3. Why should civil servants make preparations towards retirement?
4. Can the government make feasible plans for civil servants retirement?

1.4       AIMS AND OBJECTIVE OF STUDY

The aim of this studies is to critically study the effect of pension payment delay on retired civil servants. The objectives are:

1. To ascertain if civil servants should plan towards retirement.
2. To ascertain if civil servants should rely on government for retirement schemes.
3. To study if it is necessary for civil servants to make for civil servants to make plans towards retirement.
4. To examine if the government can make feasible plans for civil servants’ retirement.