Tactics for living on inadequate pension (5)

The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has issued guidelines for voluntary contribution by employed holders of Retirement Savings Accounts (RSAs).

The main purpose of the voluntary contribution is for those in employment to save more money today so that their periodic pension pay when they retire is enhanced and can be sufficient to pay their bills.

To that extent, the voluntary contribution is a tactic to avoid inadequate pension in the future. The voluntary contribution guidelines allow retirees on post-retirement contract jobs to subscribe to the scheme to save more into their existing RSAs and enhance their pension benefit.

Given the potential of the voluntary contribution to make life easier and more decent for pensioners, it is a worthy path to follow by those who have the foresight to participate in the scheme.

Away from the PenCom’s voluntary contribution. For retirees who want to engage in informal employment or economic activities to earn more and enhance their income, starting a tea joint can serve that purpose.

Although we have not reached the food and agricultural portion of potential economic activities for consideration by retirees, it is still relevant to point out that a retired caterer in Nigeria can start a tea shop, which should be equipped with modern tea and coffee making tools, attract customers and earn handsome reward fHor doing so.

All it requires to be successful in the business is value-addition by making the product unique and worthy of N500 or more per serving. The tea and coffee shop should be so designed, decorated and of pleasant ambiance that N500 is the starting price per cup and add-on for the target segment of the population or market.

If the tea and coffee shop is packaged (branded) and presented to the market professionally, it can grow into a chain of tea and coffee shops of national, regional and global status to earn money for the pensioner and project the image of Nigeria as a country of can-do people. Starbucks, the coffee and tea chain was initiated by three friends, two teachers and a writer, who met as students at a University.

A retired Dispenser who was in charge of a Primary Healthcare facility can be so entrepreneurial in his disposition as to start a patent medicine store and meet the needs of people in a community for basic drugs.

With a permit, the training and experience in detecting and rejecting fake or expired drugs, and the certified ability to dispense prescribed drugs, the retired Dispenser can hardly run out of money simply because the regular pension pay is inadequate.

A retired sports administrator can convert the experience and skills acquired over the years in a Sports and Youth Ministry into assets and make a living therefrom as a sports promoter. This retiree may not necessarily become an instructor or a coach, but can float a team, or start up a gym where health-concious patrons can pay to exercise their limbs safely in a comfortable environment.

Retired sports administrators in the country can equally bid for the Sports Academy in Karfi, Kano State, and similar installations across Nigeria owned by state governments, which are now mostly fallow or under-utilised, and turn them into functional centers for the training and grooming of sporting talents. While the retirees are paid for that service, the young talents can become world class players and sporting icons of the future in the global sports industry.

Retired cultural officers at all levels cannot fail to pay their bills on account of inadequate pension because they can organise independent troupes, join the entertainment industry and make a living out of ceremony-loving Nigerians willing to pay for their services.

The cultural troupe may get patronage from from the ever-expanding Nigerian film industry. Additionally, it can produce, package and market their own musical films, albums and organise live shows.