Entrepreneurial Opportunities and Challenges for Retired Senior Military Officers in Nigeria

Abstract

This study examines the entrepreneurial opportunities for retired officers in the Nigeria military vis-a-vis the challenges faced by these ex-servicemen when engaging in entrepreneurship. Increasingly, senior military officers retire young and are progressively taking recourse to the field of entrepreneurship. The attrition rate in terms of failure is suggestively alarming even though dearth in statistical estimate allows only a speculative value. The dominance of the military in the Nigerian political history from 1966 to 1999 led to the evolution of an elite corps within the military with sufficient funds to invest in the economic development of the nation. Despite the successes recorded in the Western world regarding the achievement of the retired military officers in entrepreneurship, the case in Nigeria reflects significant failure among businesses initiated by retired military officers. Apparently, the motivations behind such entrepreneurial projects are neither clearly understood nor linked to any discernible personality traits. This chapter seeks, therefore, to unravel this conundrum of entrepreneurial failure amongst retired military officers with a view to suggesting how their contribution to the economy may be harnessed, and their livelihoods sustained in retirement.