NAF trains officers in financial management

Ozioma Ubabukoh

The Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Abayomi Olonisakin, has called on military officers to embrace financial literacy to help them plan for a befitting retirement.

He made the call during a three-day workshop conducted for the Nigerian Armed Forces by ABO Services and Konsult, an investment and personal finance training company.

Olonisakin, who was represented by the Director of Veteran Affairs Division, Maj.-Gen. Edmond Obi, said the workshop was necessary to train officers in how to navigate the financial challenges they might experience when they would no longer be on regular salary income.

According to him, the training will help them to be financially organised and enable them to appreciate their jobs better.

He attributed the hardship being faced by many retired officers to poor or lack of proper planning while in active service, and called on officers to embrace proper financial management skills from the early days of their careers.

Olonisakin stated, “The aim of the workshop is to educate officers and men of the armed forces on the significance of financial literacy with a view to preparing them for a successful retirement life. It has been discovered that the lack of financial literacy is one of the major reasons there is wide economic disparity in the country.

“It is believed that in addition to the vocational and professional skills that are taught in training institutions, money skills, which can only be acquired through financial education, must be taught to fully equip individuals for retirement.”

The Managing Director, ABO, Abimbola Olanrewaju, said financial literacy was necessary for all categories of employees and professionals, adding that financial literacy skills would help individuals to have a blissful retirement.

According to Olanrewaju, the society will be much better if individuals invested part of their earnings in savings and investments that will yield additional incomes for them during and after active service.

He said, “From what I have seen so far, some of the participants have realised their shortcomings and are ready to adjust their consumption and plan for the future. It is not late. Warren Buffet, one of the richest men in the world, made 90 per cent of his wealth after his 60th birthday.

“The workshop is a good beginning for the security officers. This is because once one makes up one’s mind to do something, anything is possible.”

Olanrewaju, who is also the Managing Director of Tower Securities and Investment Limited, said the training focused on changing the mind-set of the participants to make them think like investors.

The facilitator stated that the company would also create a suitable investment template for the different professionals such as athletes, entertainers and footballers to enable them to identify the areas they could invest their savings in.

The workshop was part of ABO’s working understanding with the Nigerian Armed Forces on financial literacy. The partnership is aimed at training officers in financial management and related skills needed for a fulfilled retirement.

ABO is to provide customised financial literacy skill sets to serving officers twice a year. As part of the implementation, the company has organised two three-day workshops for the security operatives in Abuja, with the first holding in the third quarter of last year.

The sessions focused on training of serving officers in how to avoid wasteful spending and invest part of their incomes in good dividend yielding investments so that they will not be a burden on their relatives when they retire.

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