The federal government, in collaboration with the Bank of Agriculture, has inaugurated the Federal Public Service Entrepreneurship Programme (FPSEP) for serving and pre-retiring public officers.

The FPSEP is a start-up programme to prepare prospective retirees three years before retirement for life after service by providing opportunities to acquire new skills.

The initiative will enable retired public servants to have new career choices after they retire from active service.

The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HOCSF), Folasade Yemi-Esan, said FPSEP was developed out of the need to pay greater attention to the welfare of the public servants, who constituted the administrative machinery for implementing government policies and programmes.

Represent by Ngozi Onwudiwe, the permanent secretary in her office, Ms Yemi-Esan said some aspects of the programme would create a window for those in service to earn supplementary income to improve their quality of life, enabling those retiring to cope with life after service.

“In addition, the programme will contribute to the development of other sectors of the economy and, by implication, increase the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country.

“The programme consists of two components: Agripreneurship start-up scheme; and pre-retirement training and business start-up scheme.

“On the other hand, the pre-retirement training and business start-up scheme is tailored towards preparing public servants for life post-service by providing opportunities for them to acquire new skills for new career choices,” she said.

In her goodwill message, Emem Omokaro, the director-general, National Senior Citizen Centre (NSCC), expressed delight to be part of the programme, which would be impactful to senior citizens after they retire from the service.

Describing the participants at the programme as potential retirees, Ms Omokaro said the centre had several packages for senior citizens after retirement; hence such an initiative should be applauded.

In his contributions, Alwan Hassan, the managing director, Bank of Agriculture, lauded the HOS for the initiative, which he said would address retirees’ plights after they serve the nation.

The FPSEP is the first batch of the programme which attracted 87 participants across three MDAs of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ministry of Water Resources, Ministry of Petroleum Resources and the office of the HOCSF. 

(NAN)