Seven selected retired civil servants, also referred to as senior citizens in Bauchi State have commenced training on how to survive and be active in retirement.
The training is organised by the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) in collaboration with the National Senior Citizens Centre (NSCC) on entrepreneurship development.
Director General of the NDE, Malam Abubakar Fikpo, made the disclosure in Bauchi on Friday during the one-day training exercise for the senior citizens.
The NDE DG who was represented by the Bauchi state Coordinator of NDE, Lawan Yaya, said that the NDE realised that some of these elderly people have various skills, hence, the need for them to be brought under one umbrella and given the training.
He added that the move was to carry the elderly along, make them come to the reality that the world has changed and there are new ways of doing business in order to effectively compete in the marketplace.
According to him, “We are going to teach them basic bookkeeping, how to source personnel and how to maintain their records including marketing plans which would enable them to compete in the market with their competitors.”
Abubakar Fikpo added that, “I urge them to listen carefully to the resource persons and utilise the knowledge that would be gathered judiciously.”
Also speaking, Jinjiri Garba, Bauchi state Coach, Senior Citizens Consultative Forum, expressed happiness that Nigeria is among the countries with more concern for elderly persons who had been neglected for long.
According to him, a Centre has been established at the national level, saying “in all the states, we have representatives which are called consultative forums with each representing government and civil society organisations”.
He explained that the selected beneficiaries are entrepreneurs with some into selling locally made mats while others are into the production of locally made guns.
Jinjiri Garba, who revealed that the beneficiaries were 60 years old and above, further stated that each of them would be given the sum of N100,000 to N120,000 grant respectively at the end of the training to buy raw materials in enhancing their businesses.
“We selected them from the three geo-political zones using our gatekeepers, the traditional rulers and the elderly in the communities,” he added.
“They should be faithful in whatever they are going to do and they should use the money strictly for what it’s meant for so that it would open more opportunities for them,” said Jinjiri Garba.