The Presidency, Thursday in Abuja, commenced a vocational and entrepreneurial programme to prepare its staff adequately for retirement.

Declaring open a two-day workshop for State House staff, who are about to retire, the Permanent Secretary, Mr. Jalal Arabi, said the programme was also designed to prepare them mentally and psychologically for retirement.

“What the State House has set out to do is to commence a process of early pre-retirement training for potential retirees.

“This is in the firm belief that adequate planning for retirement will make life after retirement much more attractive,” Mr Arabi said.

The Permanent Secretary said that the overall aim of the Presidency was to ensure that all staff undergo pre-retirement training at least 3-4 years before their retirement.

“This approach is based on the realization that it usually takes about three years to incubate and develop most business ideas,’’ he said.

81 prospective retirees are being trained on livestock, fisheries management, personal finance planning and other useful skills and vocations at the workshop which opened on Thursday, April 7, 2016.