The National Directorate of Employment (NDE), in collaboration with CSS Global Integrated Farms and the Yobe State Government, has commenced a five-day training programme to equip prospective retirees with practical agribusiness skills for life after active service.
The programme, holding in Gora, Nasarawa State, is focused on animal husbandry, fish farming and food processing, with the organizers encouraging participants to develop alternative sources of income before retirement.
Chairman of CSS Global Integrated Farms, Prof John-Kennedy Opara, represented by the firm’s Training Coordinator, Dr. Victor Umunnakwe, said the training would expose participants to agricultural enterprises that could be started on a small scale, including at the backyard level.
Prof Opara explained that animal husbandry, fish farming and food production were deliberately selected because they require relatively limited space, compared with large-scale crop production.
He encouraged participants to actively engage in the practical sessions and acquire the knowledge needed to establish agricultural ventures even before retirement.
Representing the Yobe State Head of Service, Alhaji Abdullahi Musa, the Permanent Secretary, Public Service, Alhaji Ahmadu Babi, said retirement should not be seen as the end of productive life, but as an opportunity to begin a new chapter.
He urged the participants to take advantage of the practical training, noting that the skills acquired could provide sustainable livelihoods and enhance their financial independence after retirement.
Also speaking, Director-General (DG), NDE, Mr. Silas Agara, represented by the Chief Enterprise Development Officer, Mr. Abba Adamu, said the programme was designed to promote self-employment by exposing would-be retirees to viable opportunities across the agricultural value chain.
The programme is aimed at preparing civil servants for a productive, financially independent and purposeful life after active public service.
*PHOTO CAPTION: Some of the retirees in a group photograph.
