Retiring soldiers have since the early 1970s enjoyed pre-retirement training at the Nigerian Armed Forces Resettlement Centre (NAFRC), Oshodi, Lagos which equips them with trade and vocational skills.
About 41,000 personnel have acquired training in carpentry, electronics and electrical, fish farming, piggery, printing and other crafts to enable them integrate into civil society and enjoy a productive and fulfilling life in retirement.
One of them is Hamis Okunbor, who retired in 2012 as a Commodore in the Navy (equivalent to a Brigadier General in the Army).
He joined the Navy on January 4, 1978 and by 1979 was a student of the Nigerian Defence Academy, from where he graduated and became a commissioned officer.
Okunbor later attended the Command and Staff College, Jaji and National Defence College between 2007 and 2008.
He obtained a Master’s degree in strategy from the University of Ibadan in 2009 and was subsequently posted to Calabar as Fleet Commander, Nigerian Navy Eastern Command.
Productive, fulfilled in retirement
Okunbor is now savouring a productive and fulfilling life in retirement and is the brain behind a sprawling popular relaxation centre called FishPlus in Igbo-Elerin, Okokomaiko, Lagos. He is also developing a beach estate.
He shared with TheNiche the concept of Air Vice Marshal (AVM), Clement Aroriode, on how best to retire officers of the Nigerian Armed Forces.
Aware that military officers often run into crisis after retirement, Okunbor had deeply thought of what he was going to do after service.
Three things crossed his mind: doing something in maritime like shipping, going into farming, or engaging in the hospitality business.
“These were the three main areas I was looking at. I can tell you that I still have a burning interest in these areas,” Okunbor disclosed.
He has realised aspects of this dream in retirement in a way that is instructive for officers still in service.
Fruit of Aroriode’s great idea
He recalled how Aroriode’s concept helped to bring his dream to fruition: “I was very fortunate, because in every bad situation there could be something good coming out of it.
“All the while I was in the service I didn’t have the opportunity to have a command appointment, otherwise a juicy appointment. I had always thought of how to convert my one kobo to two kobo until I was posted to the NAFRC, Oshodi, in 2010.
“In 2011, a new Commandant, AVM Clement Aroriode, was posted to the NAFRC. He had great ideas. He was my Commandant while I was the Director of Coordination. For the short period, he was able to achieve so much.
“If it were possible to advise Defence Headquarters, I would say that they should bring him back to implement the great ideas he had for the place so that people can retire into civil life hitch free.
“He had something like a blueprint and we worked according to that blueprint. I was sent to Lagos Business School’s Entrepreneurial Development Centre (EDC) where I took a course in entrepreneurship. That has helped in developing my own ideas.
“Aroriode’s concept is that the military does not have to wait until the officer is about to retire before sending him to the Nigerian Armed Forces Resettlement Centre.
“In his blueprint for retiring military personnel, he urged the authorities to consider a 10-year process rather than a six months’ programme when it is too late in the day for the officer who never saved money for retirement to begin to do so.
“It is just like sending a signal to remind all officers in the Armed Forces that have served about 25 years that the limit they are allowed to serve is 35 years.
“So, if they have already done 25 years and have 10 years left, it is time to start preparing to go home. When the retirement time eventually comes, they will not be caught unawares.
“So, Aroriode’s idea is that the military should go out there and meet them in the field. Tell them you are likely going to retire soon, when you do, what would you want to do, what is your area of interest?”
Okunbor said for instance, if an officer in the Air Force wants to go into avionics or do aviation related things after service, this is the time for the NAFRC to find a school abroad or locally that will provide the training and tools that will enable him to function in retirement.
“Therefore, when you have that curriculum, they can now send the curriculum to his service so that they structure his remaining service years to accommodate the course of training based on the curriculum.
“For anyone who wants to go into farming, he should be able to determine which aspect of farming he is interested in. Then they should get agric experts to give him training. The service can then release him for a three months’ programme or any time they are needed.
“After the programme, he can go back to the service and continue to work and save money for his choice business in retirement.
“What the military is doing now at the NAFRC is to bring retiring officers to the centre for six months’ training. For those who wish to go into farming, you need a minimum of six months to do that.
“But for those who want to go into mechanical engineering, for instance the engineers in the Army who want to retire into mechanical engineering, six months can never be enough, at all.
“Aroriode’s concept is that we must tailor the programme and curriculum to the specification of the individual officer or soldier. That is the concept we are supposed to develop.
“I think he really has a great idea, and he needs to be given the opportunity to develop that. The Armed Forces can benefit from it and get their officers and soldiers to go into retirement well prepared, in peace and health.”
Asked whether Aroriode will be willing to come and implement the concept, Okunbor said: “I think so. He will be willing to give, not because he wants to work for the Armed Forces, but because it is his brainchild.
Aroriode still willing to help
“So, I think he will be willing to support the system with that even at no cost. His ideas are great ideas. I strongly believe that is the best way to go if our Armed Forces and soldiers must retire well.
“I stand out as a model illustration of Aroriode’s concept. Otherwise how could I have explained to soldiers, officers that I was one of the Directors of the NAFRC, and then at retirement I could not resettle myself? Then you are teaching people how to resettle?
“It won’t make sense. It would have sounded like a mere theory.”
