Peculiarity of Retirement Adjustment: A Study of Selected Retired Military Officers in Nigeria

Abstract

Retirement is a normal and ubiquitous phenomenon in the world of work. Every worker must retire owing to the fact that retirement is inevitable and no individual can work for eternity due to senescence. However, retirement comes with adjustment and adaptation in relation to different professions and skills or vocations. This study adopted a survey research method; using accidental and snowballing sampling technique with key informant interview (KII) and focus group discussion (FGD) as research instruments. The analysis was done using a qualitative method of content analysis to present the peculiarity of retirement adjustment among selected retired military officers in Nigeria. From the analysis, the adjustment is divided into two namely: social and economy retirement. The social adjustment includes changes in lifestyle in general. It includes but is not limited to changes in the living environment that warrants adapting to the lack of appropriate space to exercise and other recreational facilities such as visit to Officers’ Mess and complying with community security instructions amongst others. Economy retirement adjustment is characterised by less income, gratuity (less than salary) and increased spending owing to the need to budget for payment of bills such as security, electricity, transportation and even accommodation in some instances. Meanwhile, officers become more frugal and thus, have to reduce financial commitment to family and friends resulting from less income. Financial adjustment has been found to affect social adjustment as finance is a major factor that determines social involvement, especially in relation to financial commitment to family and friends. Recommendations such as the need for retirement education and training of officers in choiced occupation before and after retirement becomes imperative among others.