By Emmanuel Gandu
HIGHLIGHTS
• Excerpts
• Introduction
• Retirement of priests/reverends/pastors
• The uncertainty, the reality
• Retirement plans
• Care of retired/old priests
• Pension scheme for clergy by the various denominations
• Questionaire
• List of Catholic Bishops of Nigeria : ages, already retired, about to retire
• Conclusion
EXCERPTS
Call it the unexpected, uncertainty, reality, or the dawn of a new normal, you are not far from the likely feelings of a retired Nigerian Priest, Reverend and Pastor.
The uncertainty not withstanding, they listened to the call, and chose at an early age to seek the environment of the body of Christ, forsaking the pursuit of personal environment.
By embracing lives in obedience, poverty, and chastity, they have not counted their rewards in earthly goods but have worked solely for the good of the Church, making the salvation of souls their sole goal.
All these while neglecting to build an infrastructure of means to support their own old age. Such are the standard by which they live.
Don’t you think that we owe these clergy a debt of gratitude, obligation, and to contribute to minister to their needs at their old age?
INTRODUCTION
Retirement of the clergy had since from the beginning been explicitly conveyed in both the scripture, and the doctrines of the church :
“The Lord said to Moses, this applies to the Levites: Men twenty five years old or more shall come to take part in the work at the tent of meeting, but at the age of fifty, they must retire from their regular service and work no longer. They may assist their brothers in performing their duties at the tent of the meeting, but they themselves must not do the work. This then is how you are assigned the responsibilities of the levites.”
– Numbers 8 : 23 – 26
“A parish priest who has completed his seventy fifth year of age is requested to offer his resignation from office to the diocesan Bishop who …….”
– Canon 538 section 3.
Old age is not a disease. It is strength and survivorship, triumph over all kinds of vicissitudes and disappointments, trials and illness.
We must not allow our clergy to be afraid of old age because it is a blessing and reward for godliness.
According to the Psalmist, “Do not reject me now that I am old; do not abandon me now that I am feeble.”
– Psalms 71 : 9
Lamenting the near absence of a rubost retirement insurance pension scheme for the Nigerian clergy, Very Rev. Fr. Michael Nsikak Umoh’s homily at the 80th birthday Mass in celebration of Very Rev. Msgr. Bernard Ayodele Okodua of the Lagos diocese in October 2023 had put it succinctly – “The time is ripe for us to put policies and structures in place so that priests will not begin to panic at old age about their welfare.”
This discourse is an attempt to provoke awareness debate on the priestly call, the uncertainty, the unexpected, the reality, the implication, and several other issues surrounding a befitting functional retirement insurance pension scheme for Priests, Reverends, Pastors of the Catholic, Anglican, ECWA, Baptist, and other denominations of Christendom in Nigeria.
RETIREMENT OF PRIESTS/REVERENDS/PASTORS
Call it the unexpected, uncertainty, reality, or the dawn of a new normal, you are not far from the likely feelings of a retired Nigerian Priest, Reverend, and Pastor.
There comes a time when a priest or pastor retires from active work of God. That time comes when he attains the age of 65, or 70, or 75 years as the case may be, or for reasons of infirmity, or other health conditions. When any of these happens, he moves out of the prestbytery to begin a new phase of his ministry.
What obtains is that the clergy literally retire from administrative duties and decision-making powers in their parishes, but spiritually, they never retire from the priesthood. Interestingly, a priest is a priest forever, hence old priests are forever priests. They can still celebrate the sacraments, hear confessions, and continue to serve the community in various ways they can.
The priesthood is like marriage. Just as a married person does not take a vacation or retire from the marriage, the priest remains priest even if not fully engaged in full priestly administrative day-to-day duties.
Priests generally have some combination of three jobs in their career: Parish priest, teaching, and administration.
THE UNCERTAINTY, THE REALITY
According to the Code of Canon Law, the retirement age for priests is 75 – Canon 538 section 3. For most priests, this retirement often comes with much uncertainty, and a reality that stirs them at the face.
Realistically, retirement for a priest means not just giving up a role in a parish but more often, giving up his home in the parish as well.
For many, it is a challenge to their very sense of personal identity, self esteem, failure of expected outcomes, and the dawn of a reality.
It can also mean a very uncertain financial future.
The worst probably is a feeling of loneliness especially the Catholic priest, and the sudden reality of the absence of the closeness of a nuclear family to turn to unlike what obtains with retired clergy of the Anglican, ECWA, Baptist and other denominations.
Writing about identity problems, Keenan (2012) found out that many Catholic priests don’t have a strong personal identity apart from that of being a priest.
RETIREMENT PLANS
The Code of Canon Law states that: “A parish priest who has completed his seventy fifth year of age is requested to offer his resignation from office to the diocesan Bishhop ……. Having taken account of the terms laid down by the Bishops’ Conference, the diocesan Bishop must make provission for the appropriate maintenance and residence of the priest who has resigned.” – Canon 538 section 3.
Characteristic of the Catholic church, there is adequate planning and provision for the retired clergy.
However, the issue of retirement plans for priests shoul equally occupy the consciousness of the lay people at all times.
Come to think of it, these men chose service to God and abandoned all avenues to acquisition of the means to personal comfort.
The uncertainty not withstanding, they chose at an early age to seek the enrichment of the Body of Christ, forsaking the pursuit of personal enrichment. By embracing lives in obedience, poverty, and chastity, they have not counted their rewards in earthly goods but have worked solely for the good of the church, making the salvation of souls their sole goal.
Priests by their vocations have given their all for our own good, serving God by serving us.
As young men, they spent their energies in raising the children of the church, entrenching values that will serve the beneficiaries throughout life, strengthening harmony within christian families, building a better society for the faithful and other citizens. All these while neglecting to build an infrastructure of means to support their own old age. Such are our expectations of them, such are the standards by which they live.
Don’t you think that
• We owe these priests a debt of gratitude?
• Obligation?
• To contribute to minister to their needs at their retirement/old age?
This discourse is an attempt to provoke awareness debate to the issue of a functional retirement pension scheme for priests, pastors, and reverends, using the Catholic church as a case study.
CARE OF RETIRED/OLD PRIESTS
(1) Retired and elderly indigenous clergy and religious are recent amongst the African society in comparison to other parts of the world. The introduction of the faith through European missionaries meant that those missionary priests and religious who grow old in service return to their country of origin at retirement. It therefore means that the culture of retired clergy is relatively new amongst us and their care should occupy the attention of the leadership of the various denominations of the Nigerian church.
Also, the absence of a public care system for the elderly in the Nigerian society precludes retired/old clergy access to government assistance.
Furthermore, we owe it to them as gratitude for their service to us and the church.
(2) Yes, the Nigerian church is relatively new in the business of taking care of retired clergy but the lay faithful is not new in taking care of aged members of their families. Therefore, both the church as an institution and the lay faithful should bring their experiences to bear on care of the retired clergy.
(3) The care of the retired priest is enshrined in the Code of Canon Law: “…….. Having taken account of the norms laid down by the Bishops’ Conference, the diocesan Bishop must make provision for the appropriate maintenance and residence of the priest who has resigned.” – Canon 538 section 3.
In line with this provisions of Canon 538 § 3, the Nigerian Bishops in their various dioceses provide accommodation mostly where vacancies exist at parishes, and welfare for their priests at retirement.
(4) Some priests in Nigeria, and of course, in other climes, who retire, and are still in reasonably good health act as a “supply” priest in order to cover for other priests who are away from their parishes for reasons of holiday, sickness, etc.
(5) Teaching priests, particularly seminary or university professors/academic staff tend to have a different type of retirement.
While they enjoy the respite from mandatory classes, their academic side is given free reign as professor emeritus or scholar-in-residence.
They are free from institutional politics and are warmly surrounded by their former students.
However :
(6) In advanced countries:
(a) some diocese have retirement homes for retired priests, while others allow them to be adopted by their parishes.
(b) The dioceses often has resources or programs to care for retired priests. This may include financial support, heathcare services, and assistance with housing.
(c) Many religious Orders have their own retirement homes or facilities specifically for their members. These homes provide medical care, spiritual support, and community life tailored to the needs of their elderly priests.
(d) In some cases, family members may provide care for their retired ageing priests close relations if the individual priest prefers to stay in a family setting.
(e) Some elderly priests may utilize local healthcare facilities such as nursing homes or assisted living centres, particularly if they require more intensive medical care.
(f) Volunteers and lay members of the church assist/support with care of the elderly priests, providing medical care, and other daily requirements, visits and companionship.
RETIREMENT INSURANCE PENSION SCHEME FOR THE NIGERIAN CLERGY AMONG THE VARIOUS DENOMINATIONS
The subject of clergy retirement insurance pension has become a contemporary problem in Nigeria because of the clerical culture that had become attached to priesthood.
Without doubt, this culture alienates and promotes priests as being different not only in life and in death but also when it comes to retirement and old age. My research efforts have led me to find out that there is no unanimity/similarity/agreement in the manner of handling this subject among the various denominations of the Catholic, Anglican, ECWA, and the Baptist church in Nigeria.
In the build up to this exposition, it became obvious that though implemented somehow, a retirement insurance pension scheme for many denominations is neither here nor there. By and large, the church in Nigeria is not yet there. Not yet what is expected. The situation leaves much to be desired, as there is more room for improvement.
To put it succincly, there are yawning gaps to be filled up in order to arrive at a semblance of a befitting retirement situation necessary towards achieving a healthy body and mind for our retired clergy.
The prevailing situation :
(1) Catholic Church
The arrangement as earlier expressly highlited in this exposition is left to the Bishop of each diocese to handle, though guided by the principles laid down in the Code of Canon Law (Canon 538 sec. 3) where the retirement age for priest is put at 75 years. Other instructions for welfare care of the retired are also contained in the Canon Law as well as guidelines from the Catholic Bishops’ Conference, all of which have been already sufficiently discussed in this exposition.
Additionally, some dioceses are at various planning stages or are already at various stages of operating or implementation of some kind of contributary retirement insurance schemes for their clergy. Information gathered suggests that these schemes are or may be administered by in-house pension administrators, although some of the priests spoken to have expressed their desire for their Bishops to also engage the services of the public Pension Fund Administrators (PFA) used by the Nigerian public workers/civil service.
Their reasons for this preference, according to some of them, is hinged on the years of experience these PFAs have in handling retirement insurance pension scheme matters.
(2) ECWA
The Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) operates a functional retirement insurance pension scheme that is relatively well recieved by both their retired and serving clergy.
It is a contributary pension scheme managed, administered, and supervised by the ECWA Advisory Board at its Nigerian Headquarters in Jos.
Both their serving clergy and ECWA as a church contributes certain worked out percentages to the scheme in favour of each individual pastor/reverend to cover the requirement on monthly bases.
For the purposes of compliance with the financial institutions regulations of the federal government of Nigeria, the ECWA Pension Scheme is registered with the relevant national financial security commission.
A pastor/reverend retires on attainment of 65 years of age or 70 years of age as the case may be. 65 years is for the normal retirement age while 70 years of age is for the most productive pastor/reverend whose services have been extended due to his level of productivity.
From 20 years of service, a pastor/reverend may retire before attaining the mandatory 35 years of service.
Pension is paid to every properly retired pastor/reverend for life (till death). Additionally, retired pastors/reverends are periodically assisted financilly when alive and even when on pension. At death, their widdows continue to recieve financial and material support.
The ECWA retirement insurance pension scheme is a document approved by the ECWA Board, and available to any body for reference.
(3) Baptist church
The Nigerian Baptist Convention headquarters is in Ibadan.
The church operates an independent system of administration with the following structure :
1. Convention – as the headquarters.
2. Conference – at the state level where it may comprise of 2 or more conferences in a state.
3. Association – at the town level.
4. Local church.
Each church is autonomouse/independent.
A pastor or reverend of the Baptist church as the case may be, is independently engaged and employed by the local church, and pays him a salary based on the need for his services, his qualification, and his competence without recourse to the convention (headquarters). What this means is that the local church does not rely on administrative instructions from the Convention, nor the Conference, nor the Association on staff and any other financial matters.
A pastor retires on attainment of 65 years of age or 35 years of service. By this arrangement, it is only the Local church that pays 30% of his monthly salary as pension scheme into the pastor’s Pension Fund Administration (PFA) bank of his choice. It is not a contributary pension scheme, and the Convention (headquarters), Conference, nor the Association have nothing to do with the entire arrangement of the finances. Years back, the church contributes 27% while the beneficiary contributes 3% to make up the 30%.
The Baptist Convention does not have a central payment system. In view of all the issues highlighted above especially the absence of a central administration system, and the system of autonomy/independence in the church, most of the Baptist clergy are neither on gratuity nor pension at retirement.
(4) The Anglican church.
In the Anglican church, all the levels of the clergy except the Bishop retire at the age of 65 years.
There is no pension scheme, but at point of retirement they are given some kind of lump sum which may have been saved over the years from direct contribution/deduction from their salary/appreciation. These arrangements are made by the various dioceses who are autonomous and independent of the centre.
The Anglican Bishop retires at the age of 70 years. When retired, the church builds and furnishes a house for them at their own choice location.
*Questions / food for thought*:
In the light of these uncertainties and realities, the following questions were administered as questionaire, and are here presented to further provoke a robust debate on retirement insurance pension scheme for the Nigerian clergy :
(1) What is the name of your denomination?
(2) What provisions are made in your church/denomination for the retired clergy ?
(3) What arrangements are there for the clergy who, after long years of service, because of ill health, or for personal reasons, want to retire before the mandatory qualifying retirement age?
(4) What, if any, is the retirement pension scheme arrangement for your retired clergy?
(5) If available is the pension scheme administered by the church/denomination or by an independent, private, or government company?
(6) If available as in (5) above,
(a) Is it like the Nigerian worker’s contributary pension scheme?
(b) Does the clergy concerned pays his part of the contribution from his stipend, or the parish/church pays for him.
(c) How bouyant or lean is the Diocessan Bishop’s part of his contribution to the priests pension?
(7) Do those persons involved in your church’s pension administration include also priests re presentatives and not only the Bishop’s appointees?
(8) How sufficient is the pension paid to your pastor/reverend?
(9) Is the headquarters of your denomination involved in the pension scheme administration of your church?
(10) Do the terms and conditions of pension scheme in your denomination depends largely on the individual Bishops and what they think is best or determined also by the imput of the individual priests and their collective council of priests?
CATHOLIC BISHOPS OF NIGERIA : THEIR AGES, RETIRED, ABOUT TO RETIRE AS AT 4/5/2025
The number of retired clergy in the Nigerian Catholic church is rising on a daily basis. The situation is such that it may pose a challenge to the provision of housing and welfare care, especially in dioceses of southern Nigeria.
The case of the Catholic Archdiocese of Ibadan and their retired clergy gives a handy situation for scrutiny and lessons.
The number of retired Bishops in Yoruba land will rise by the end of 2025/26.
Not just Bishops, there are already priests and religious joining the ranks of those already in their eighties. Their number will continue to climb. Similar scenario is about to present themselves in the south south and south east Dioceses and Archdioceses. Only the North is spared especially with the earlier death of Bishop Gabriel G. Ganaka, Bishop Peter Y. Jatau, Bishop Aje, and much recently Msgr. Emmanuel D. Abiriyi.
Lamenting the seemingly lack of preparation to take care of the impending flood gate of retirements, Very Rev. Fr. Michael Nsikak Umoh in October 2023 sounded a note of warning – “The time is ripe for us to put policies and structures in place so that priests will not begin to panic at old age about their welfare.”
The list :
(1) Bishop Anthony Okonkwo Gbuji (93) Bishop Emeritus Enugu
(2) Cardinal Francis Arinze (92) Vatican
(3) Bishop Julius Babatunde Adelakun (90) Bishop Emeritus Oyo
(4) Bishop Francis Folorunsho Clement Alonge (90) Bishop Emeritus Ondo
(5) Bishop Michael Patrick Olatunji Fagun (90) Bishop Emeritus Ekiti
(6) Cardinal Anthony Olubunmi Okogie (88) Archbishop Emeritus Lagos
(7) Bishop Francis Emmanuel Ogbonna Okobo (88) Bishop Emeritus Nsukka
(8) Archbishop Felix Alaba Adeosin Job (86) Archbishop Emeritus Ibadan
(9) Bishop Timothy Joseph Carroll SMA (85) Vicar Apostolic Emeritus Kontagora
(10) Bishop Michael Nnachi Okoro (84) Bishop Emeritus Abakaliki
(11) Cardinal John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan (81) Archbishop Emeritus Abuja
(12) Archbishop Anthony John Valentine Obinna (78) Archbishop Emeritus Owerri
(13) Bishop Hilary Paul Odili Okeke (78) Bishop Emeritus Nnewi
(14) Bishop John Okeke Afareha (78) Bishop Emeritus Warri
(15) Bishop Martin Dada Abejide Olorunmolu (76) Bishop of Lokoja
(16) Archbishop Richard Anthony Burke SPS (76) Bishop Emeritus Benin City
(17) Bishop Camillus Archibong Etokudoh (75) Bishop Emeritus Port Harcourt
(18) Archbishop Gabriel Leke Adegurin (75) Archbishop of Ibadan
(19) Archbishop Joseph Effion Ekuwem (75) Archbishop of Calabar
(20) Bishop John Ifeanyichukwu Okoye (74) Bishop of Awgu
(21) Bishop Martin Igwemezie Uzoukwu (74) Bishop of Minna
(22) Bishop Solomon Amanchukwu Amatu (74) Bishop of Okigwe
(23) Archbishop Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji (73) Archbishop of Owerri
(24) Bishop Donatus Edet Akpan (72) Bishop of Ogoja
(25) Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah (72) Bishop of Sokoto
(26) Bishop Paulinus Chukwuemeka Ezeokafor (72) Bishop of Awka
(27) Bishop Augustine Tochukwu Okwuoma (71) Bishop of Orlu
(28) Archbishop Valerian Maduka Okeke (71) Archbishop of Onitsha
(29) Bishop William Amove Avenya (69) Bishop of Gboko
(30) Bishop Hyacinth Oroko Egbebo MSP (69) Bishop of Bomadi
(31) Bishop Dennis Chidi Isizoh (69) Bishop of Aguleri
(32) Bishop Michael Odogwu Elue (69) Bishop of Ikot Ekpene
Source : Bishops by Age. Catholic.org
4/5/2025
CONCLUSION
That the clergy retires at 65, 70, and 75 years of age depending on the denomination is sacrosanct.
They therefore need to join the discourse with the hope of bringing forward definite recommendations about the debate for a functional retirement insurance pension scheme for the church in Nigeria.
However, one thing that might be an impediment to this suggestion is the notion that the clergy and the lay people are somehow different. Another is that their roles as priests cannot be compared with other jobs or careers. If, for any reasons that is how they approach this subject, they need to be careful that they are not falling into the old clerical faults of presuming they are different from the rest of humanity.
Critically viewed however, ordination does not remove the frailties they share with all of humans, does not mean they do not grow old.
Suffice it to emphasize that old age and retirement is a stage in life, just like other life stages of childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, and middle age. Planning for retirement, working towards it, knowing the resources that will be available to them helps a great deal. It’s not one they should be afraid of, or try to deny. It’s part of being human, being mortal.
Peace 🙏
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