By By Olayinka Adebayo
Managing your finances as a civil servant in Nigeria could be very difficult in this President Tinubu’s administration. All the same, you have to make provisions for “rainy days” considering the country’s economy, government’s harsh policy effects on individuals and businesses.
In Nigeria, the two sets of ‘powerful people’ are businessmen and politicians. They are the most influential in the country.
How many civil servant can boast of financial freedom? I’m sure there would be very few and those few are the ones who take cognisance of their financial life. I know it is not easy to manage one’s financial life in Nigeria because of the low rate of pay by employers in the country, but it is better to manage one’s income wisely than wasting it on some unnecessary things.
The following are some of so many ways of managing one’s finances, and they include, in no particular order:
BUDGETING: Ration your income and spending, and also pay less attention to miscellaneous expenses and prioritize your important expenses.
SAVINGS PLAN: Search for different types of savings you could start. As a civil servant, the best savings scheme you could start is one with a Cooperative Multipurpose Society, since the motive of these establishments are mainly for the satisfaction of their members and not basically for profit making. They make provisions for different types of savings. Examples are:
NORMAL SAVINGS: This savings is in form of a thrift, you continue to contribute either weekly or monthly for as long you remain a member of the society. With this type of savings, you can take double of what you have in your savings as loan after saving for a particular period of time. Some Cooperative societies allow members to save up for 6 months before they can take loans.
TARGET SAVINGS: As the name implies, this type of savings enables you to save towards a particular project, e.g. Children’s school fees, Building project, etc.
EXTRA SOURCE OF INCOME: No matter how little it is, every civil servant needs an extra stream of income. One could get oneself involved in a side hustle which could be a business, or even freelance jobs as there are lots of remote jobs now. It could also be rendering of services which does not need capital.
PENSION PLAN: Every civil servant should have a futuristic plan so that they can have something to rely on after retirement. It has been noticeable that a whole lot of civil servants do not take their retirement plans seriously until they are few years away from retirement, that is when you see them running helter skelter, looking for ‘magical’ idea that would sustain them in their retired days. During their active years, they thought in their minds that retirement is still far away, that they still have enough time to plan for it forgetting that time waits for no one. For this reason, a civil servant is endeavoured to set a futuristic goal.
DEBT REDUCTION: In all that you do, please ensure you reduce whatever that could put you in debt. Cut excessive purchases and some other unnecessary expenses.
INSURANCE: Get Insurance. It is very important because of unforeseen circumstances. Insure your life, assets, and create an education plan for your children.
INVESTMENT: As a civil servant, it isn’t all about savings. The amount of money you save today will not have the same value with the amount of money you would receive in future. But the amount of money invested would have a higher value in the near future. It is called the time value of money.
With the few points mentioned above, it is important for every civil servant to “make hay while the sun shines”.
Olayinka Adebayo is the finance manager, ASUU-LASU Cooperative Multipurpose Society.
