Babatunji Wusu –
The Kebbi State Government declared on Wednesday that the National Assembly Act’s revised retirement age of 60 to 65 years and 35 to 40 years by age while in service will take effect.
Alhaji Safiyanu Garba-Bena, the head of service, declared during a subsequent joint press conference that the whole civil service is pleased that the State Executive Council convened today and discussed the council letter that my humble office had sent.
He claims that the letter relates to the domestication of the National Assembly Act’s provisions regarding the new retirement age and years of service requirements for teachers and other categories of state employees.
“The length of service is also increased from 35 to 40 years, and the new retirement age is raised from 60 to 65 years of age. Being a laborer and the council chairman, His Excellency has granted the unanimous request of the council.
The head of service said that the council’s choice would put an end to the widespread migration of teachers to other MDAs, noting that the council had asked the Ministry of Justice to draft an executive bill for submission to the State House of Assembly in order to formally execute the bill.
Yakubu Ahmed Birnin-Kebbi, the Commissioner for Information and Culture, noted that the Act had previously been put into effect in some states. The commissioner praised Gov. Nasir Idris for confronting the problem head-on and claimed that this demonstrated that the governor had once been a teacher.
During his discussion of palliatives, Ahmed stated that the State Government had received USD 2 billion from the Federal Government and had made the decision to add USD 3.5 billion to purchase grains for distribution to vulnerable people throughout the state.
While serving as the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) President under President Muhammadu Buhari, Alhaji Nura Bala-Fingili, the commissioner for youth and sports development, recalled that the Kebbi governor was the one who championed the new retirement age for teachers; today, it has been implemented in Kebbi State.
With a warning that there should be no table payment, he said that the governor had also given the go-ahead for the payment of leave grants to all state employee categories with immediate effect.
The governor ordered that no employee earn less than 10% of their annual salary as before.
Bala-Fingili emphasized that employees should only be paid the leave grants through their banks and gave the assurance that the commissioners would strictly enforce compliance by monitoring the payment in their respective ministries.
In her remarks, the Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Hajiya Halima Mohammed-Bande, thanked the governor for putting teachers’ aspirations into action and noted that this would raise teacher morale and improve the caliber of instruction throughout the State.
