For potential Nigerian Federal Civil Service retirees, an entrepreneurial program has been launched.
The program was introduced in Abuja, Nigeria by the head of the federal civil service, Folashade Yemi-Esan, who stated that its goal was to prepare civil servants for life after employment.
Yemi-Esan stated that the Program is a sub-initiative of one of the 6 pillars of the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan 2021–2025, which is being represented by the Permanent Secretary, Service Welfare Office, Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Dr. Ngozi Onwudiwe.
The need to give more consideration to the welfare of the public servants who make up the administrative apparatus for carrying out government policies and programs led to the development of the Federal Public Service Entrepreneurship Program.
As a result, she said, “some aspects of the Programme create opportunities for those in the Service to earn additional income to improve their quality of life, enable those retiring to manage life after Service while also contributing to the development of the other sectors of the economy and, by extension, increase the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country.
Agricultural Entrepreneurship
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She claims that the Program consists of two parts: the Pre-Retirement Training and Business Start-up Scheme and the Agripreneurship Start-up Scheme.
The provisions of Section 2(b) Part 1 of the Fifth Section of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Constitution of 1999, which allow Nigerian Public Servants to engage in farming while in service, serve as the foundation for the creation of the Agripreneurship Start-up Scheme. As a result, both current and former public employees can take part in this scheme. The Pre-Retirement Training and Business Start-up Scheme, on the other hand, is designed to help Public Servants get ready for life after service by giving them opportunities to learn new skills for alternative career paths. Yemi-Esan made a point.
physical adversity
Abdulganiyu Obatoyibo, the administrator of the Public Service Institute of Nigeria, claimed that the program would ensure social and economic relief while lowering retirees’ levels of mental and physical stress as well as poverty.
He added that working alone does not always result in wealth.
“Public employees should understand that we live in a progressive world where having the desire to be creative and innovative is essential for maintaining one’s livelihood and raising a family.”
If you can’t make money, you’ll always be poor. You will be poor if you are unable to produce, add value, or generate wealth. So, Obatoyibo noted, “What’s happening now is an attempt to imbibe training and skills.
The Agripreneurship Programme will begin with theoretical training at the Public Service Institute of Nigeria for a week, according to Mrs. Omoabie Akpan, Director, Employee and Industrial Relations in the office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation.
According to him, the curriculum would introduce participants to crop farming, and fish farming—from the production of fishlings to raising them to maturity for financial gain—vegetable farming, greenhouse farming, agro-processing, and the method of turning some agricultural waste into wealth.
The participants will be exposed to the practical aspect of the agricultural value chain for which they have expressed interest during the two weeks of hands-on training at selected farms in and around the FCT, he said.
The following is how she described the participation procedures: (a) At various MDAS, interested Officers will be profiled and sensitized.
(b) The Employee and Industrial Relations Department, Service Welfare Office, and Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation will receive the list of nominated officers.
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(d) Ministries, extra-Ministerial Departments and Agencies (MDAs) will cover the cost of the training, and payment will be made to the PSIN.
Eighty-seven participants from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Federal Ministry of Water Resources, Ministry of Petroleum Resources, and Office of the Civil Service of the Federation make up the first batch of the Agripreneurship Training Programme.
The Program’s start-up elements for agribusiness aims to prepare upcoming retirees with three years left before leaving the workforce for life after service by giving them the chance to pick up new skills that will allow them to pursue new careers after retirement.
The business start-up component is still being worked on to its full potential.
The Bank of Industry is collaborating on the program.
