NUTRITIONAL KNOWLEDGE, RETIREMENT PREPAREDNESS AND ENTREPRENEURIAL SKILLS OF EMPLOYEES OF TERTIARY EDUCATION IN RIVERS STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

This study assesses nutritional knowledge, retirement preparedness and entrepreneurial skills of employees in public tertiary institutions in Rivers State, Nigeria. Three research questions and objectives were formulated to guide the study. The research population consisted of 9,000 Staff of tertiary education in Rivers State, Nigeria. There hundred and eighty-three (383) from the research population were selected as respondents using simple random sampling technique. A structured questionnaire titled “Nutritional knowledge, retirement preparedness and entrepreneurial skills of employees in public tertiary education institutions in Rivers State, Nigeria were constructed. The questionnaire was validated by three experts with a reliability coefficient of 0.69 which showed high reliability and thus considered satisfactory and stable for the study. Data were analyzed using frequency, percentages, mean and standard deviation. The findings reveal that employees of Staff of tertiary education in Rivers State, Nigeria had good nutritional knowledge. Nutrition is pivotal in the prevention of diseases, promotion and maintaining of good health. Employees had poor retirement preparedness with to savings but run business ventures such as selling of food items; agribusiness, catering, education, real estate, consultancy, beauty and health; and household cleaning production. However, high family obligations, expensive business costs, and difficulties in obtaining credit were serious challenges. Staff could, for example, establish a culture of saving and engaging in entrepreneurship to ensure financial viability following retirement.