INTERVIEW: Retirement Education Should Be Taught From Secondary School — Prof Oreh

Six years after retirement, Prof Catherine Ikodiya Oreh has been inducted as a Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Education (NAE), the highest educational body in the country and the second most prestigious academy in Nigeria after the Nigerian Academy of Science.

The induction, which took place at the Conference Hall of the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) in Abuja on Thursday, comes on the heels of her launching two books, including “Retirement Education Manual For All”.

In this interview with THE WHISTLER, Prof Oreh shared what the new honour means to her, her advocacy for adult and retirement education, her struggles as a widow who raised three sons, and her advice to young women determined to break barriers in academia. Excerpts…

What Does Being Inducted As A Fellow Of The Nigerian Academy Of Education Mean To You?

The Nigerian Academy of Education, as you heard the chairman say when he was making his opening remark, is the highest educational body in Nigeria.

All other educational bodies are encompassed by this body, and it is the second organisation in Nigeria apart from the Academy of Science.

Today, the Academy is celebrating its 40th anniversary. When you become a professor and you still have more than five years in service, you are nominated to become a member of the Academy.

Progressively, they will assess your work, both at the university and in the development of education, and you will be nominated for induction. The position of a fellowship is the highest position. There are members, there are associate fellows, there are core fellows of the Academy, and today I’ve been inducted as a core fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Education, which is quite inspiring to me.

Having retired six years back, they still found me worthy to be made a fellow, so I’m grateful.

How Will This Reflect On The Field Of Adult Education And Community Development?

Actually, the field of adult education in Nigeria is a discipline that people haven’t quite understood. Like, what we are doing here is an aspect of adult education. Whatever that brings learning to adults is adult education, but it must be planned. You have out-of-school, you have non-formal, you have informal. What we are doing here is organised. We are learning. When the keynote speaker was speaking, many people, I believe, were not following, but if you really follow, instead of just saying that people are in school, it is important to have them educated.

It’s not enough to acquire a skill. If you acquire a skill and you don’t know what to do with the skill, do as I do, it’s a wasted effort. In adult education, we emphasize that adults who missed the opportunity of enrolling in formal primary or secondary, they still have the opportunity to learn.

And those who are already at the tertiary level, but who, for one reason or the other, cannot enter into the formal stream in the university or colleges of technology, then we have organised programmes for them.

And at the lowest level, the basic literacy is for those who are stark illiterate, who are non-literate. You see, age shouldn’t be a limitation for anybody to be educated. Age shouldn’t be a limitation.

That’s why we emphasise on education for all. When you mean education for all, all should be all, both young and old, and adults in particular, no matter the age.

You Launched Two Books Yesterday. One Of Them Is ‘Retirement Education Manual For All’. What Gap Were You Trying To Fill?

The book presentation was yesterday, and coincidentally, I presented two books. One is on Retirement Education.

If you look around and see what retirees are going through in Nigeria, they are regarded as nonentities, as people who never made any contributions to the development of this nation. All their labours, more or less, are forgotten. Do you know that there are people whose pensions are N15,000 in Nigeria, and whose pensions are N20,000? Like I said yesterday, when they invite them from time to time for verification, they come.

The government brings an ambulance, because they know some of them, out of hunger, out of weakness, weariness, they can faint. Some can die. So is this supposed to be the thank you or the reward for someone who had contributed significantly to the development of the nation? Now, back to retirement education, people don’t get prepared for retirement.

They don’t plan for it. Maybe three years after retirement, they begin to scout around. There are people who have retired, who do not know where to relocate to, who are still paying school fees for children, who don’t have their own houses, even in the village.

But when you plan your retirement from the onset…I recommended in my text, from secondary school, it should be a core subject, then people will be prepared. People will know what to do, plan, save, organize themselves, how to make use of the extra time that will be in their hands, and how to get engaged in leisure, not idleness. Leisure and idleness, they are not the same thing.

Leisure is an activity that is well-structured, that gives you joy. Now, idleness is inactivity that leads to boredom. I hope I’ve made myself clear.

You Started As A Classroom Teacher In 1973 And Rose To Become The First Female PhD holder And First Female Professor In Abam, Abia State. What Were The Biggest Challenges You Faced?

I started in the state school. Then I came into the university school in 1975 as a kindergarten teacher, and then moved to grade 5, grade 6. From there, I transitioned into the Institute of Education to become a research fellow/lecturer.

So I’ve gone through the levels.

On the biggest challenges I faced, they were not easy. First of all, I was studying, I had two scholarships and one bursary award, an education bursary, a federal government merit award, and a Senate University scholarship. So I was studying with ease, and my husband was in the House of Representatives.

But the day I had my degree paper was the day my husband died. And it was quite challenging. I never imagined that I would make it. My eldest child was ten years, seven months. My second son was nine years. My third son was seven years, five months. You can imagine that age bracket, what to do with them. And given the type of culture we have in our place, of dispossessing widows, I had a lot of challenges. Financial, emotional, psychological, name them, I had challenges. But because I trusted God and I still trust him, he waded us through this storm.

You Graduated With First-Class Honours As The Best Student In Your Department And Faculty. How Did You Do It?

Whatever I do, I get determined to do it. And I believe in success. Five of my grandchildren are studying abroad. And I tell them, as you take each course, grade yourself before the lecturer finishes the course. So I used to tell myself I would make an A in this course. And I would study towards making an A. It wasn’t easy, but nothing distracted me.

The children were already there, and my husband was in the House of Representatives when I entered the university. So I didn’t want to join the legislator’s wives. I didn’t want to be distracted because I had to focus. And God was guiding me. He knew what would come before me. So he encouraged me to push on.

How Did You Balance Your Roles As A Wife, Mother Of Three Sons, And Academic Pursuits?

It wasn’t easy to balance anything. I was looking for money to pay their school fees.

I was looking for money to pay rent. There was a car I had as a student. We rode that car for 17 years.

But now, when I look around and see cars all over me, I begin to wonder. The Bible says, Sorrow may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning. That is where I am. So I balanced because I didn’t have an entitlement mentality. This person must do this or do this for me. I trusted God, and I asked him to guide me.

I did all kinds of things. I farmed. I became a trader until I became a consultant. Then things turned around.

Your Late Husband Was Also The First PhD holder In Abam, Abia State. How Did He Influence Your Academic Journey?

He brought me to the limelight. He took me to the university community, even though I had already gotten my WAEC teacher’s grade 2. But if I had stayed back in the village, I would have retired as a primary school teacher at 60.

So, I’m still grateful to him. What happened yesterday was Thanksgiving, more or less, and a remembrance unto him. He brought me to the university, but I was denied a scholarship when I was in secondary school.

The Catholic bishop of Umuahia Diocese had given scholarships to three of us. Two from Ozu Abam, one from Ndi Oji Abam. But people petitioned that the girls that got the scholarship, that their parents were wealthy.

They kept writing and writing, and the principal withdrew it. At that point, my father had a financial challenge, but it took God for me to wade through secondary school.

What Advice Would You Give To Young Women Academics Aspiring To Break Barriers As You Did?

Whatever you do, be serious about it. Be determined, be focused. Don’t keep the wrong company. We often hear ‘iron sharpeneth iron’. As a widow, you lose your friends. Your friends don’t come close to you because they think widowhood is infectious. And men of course, your husbands’ friends don’t dare come near because they would be suspected that they are coming to befriend you.

Any sensible person would know that it is just between her and God. But for young people who are widows, life still continues unless they decide to commit suicide. And since life continues, you want to maintain the legacy of your late husband. You will work hard to sustain it. That is my advice.