By Sunday John
The Nasarawa State Government has inaugurated a two-week skills and entrepreneurship training for over 100 civil servants about to retire from service.
The civil servants, set to retire after serving for 35 years or turning 60 as required by the law, are to undergo training on different skills at the Wing Commander Abdullahi Ibrahim Vocational and Technology Institute Lafia.
Gov. Abdullahi Sule said at the commencement of the training on Friday, in Lafia, that the programme was the first in the state.
He said it was aimed at addressing the challenges civil servants often faced after retiring from active service.
The governor, represented by his Deputy, Dr Emmanuel Akabe, said the initiative was well thought and designed to equip senior citizens in the state with practical skills to be self-employed and get extra income.
“The effective way of preparing for a happy retirement is possessing a functional vocational skill that enables the retiree set up a business, become a successful entrepreneur and employer of labour.
“This is the first training ever held for retiring civil servants in the state and we will sustain and even improve on it.
“Hitherto, training was only held for youths and women, but we decided to also include this category of people given the difficulties some of them face after retirement.
“We are working hard to ensure that those who retire from service get their gratuity few months thereafter to enable them to start a business, having acquired skills,” Sule added.
The governor said that his government met backlog of unpaid gratuity, but had put up machinery to offset it.
He said payment of gratuity was based on those who retired first and not on who you know in government.
Sule, therefore, promised to be more committed to welfare of civil servants and retirees if re-elected for second term on March 11.
On her part, Abigail Wayas, Acting Head of Civil Service in the state, lauded the governor for the initiative to better the welfare of civil servants and retirees.
She said that civil servants never had it so good like they did under the current government, since the state was created in 1996.
“The governor has implemented outstanding promotions, employed more workforce, given permanent employment to casual workers and now skills and entrepreneurship training for civil servants preparing for retirement,” Wayas said.
Also, Mr Yusuf Iya and Mohammed Doma, Chairmen of Nigeria Lobour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) respectively, commended the governor for the initiative.
They said it would go a long way to make the lives of the retirees worthwhile and reduce Health challenges and stress.
The union leaders, however, appealed to the governor to ensure that civil servants get thier retirement benefits three or four months after, to enable them to set up businesses.
They said without capital, there was no way the retirees would set up thier own businesses, as such, the essence of the entrepreneurship and skills training by the government would be defeated.
Responding on behalf of the beneficiaries, Mrs Juliana Kuju commended the government for the initiative and promised not to take the opportunity for granted. (NAN).
