Mass retirement in Nigeria civil service

ABUJA-As the Head of Service of the Federation, Prof Oladapo Afolabi prepares to  retire from service at the end of this month, no fewer than 300 federal civil servants may have been pencilled  for disengagement by the Federal Government.

Investigations by Vanguard revealed that even though the mass retirement of federal civil servants is likely to affect middle and senior officers in all the ministries, it was in line with the civil service rules. All those affected were said to have either served the maximum period of 35 years or attained the age of 60 years.

It was learnt that  the exercise was part of the on-going reforms within the Federal Civil Service . It was gathered that only last month three permanent secretaries were  retired while another three were appointed as part of the reforms.

A list of over 30  affected civil servants who were  affected by the exercise  was sighted  on a notice board at the Office of the Head of Service last Tuesday. The list   contained  names of officers on grade levels 7 to 17 who have been pencilled  for retirement.

The memo which contained the list   also indicated that those affected  would be proceeding on pre-retirement training at various  institutes for the training of public administrators and personnel managers in Abuja and Lagos. It was  further  gathered that some of the officers  whose names were on the list have already been retired but were yet to undergo the pre-retirement training.

A  source at  Office of Head of Service which spoke to Vanguard on condition of anonymity said apart from those whose names had already been compiled  to proceed on pre-retirement training, another list which would comprise the names of a fresh batch of civil servants would be released  by next month.

Among  institutes where the  affected civil servants would undergo pre-retirement training  are  the Civil service Institute, Abuja, Centre for Management Development (CMD), Lagos and the Administrative and Staff College of  Nigeria, also in Lagos.  Vanguard learnt that while the junior level staff due for retirement  would undergo their pre-retirement training at the Civil Service Institute, the middle and some senior level officers would be trained at CMD while directors from level 15 would be trained at ASCON.

It was also learnt that among the government departments involved in the exercise are the Office of Head of Service,  the various ministries , Federal Civil Service Commission (FCC) and Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR). When contacted over the development, Mr Tope Ajakaiye the Deputy Director in charge of Press at the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation  declined  to comment on the exercise   but rather referred Vanguard to BPSR. Efforts to contact officials of BPSR proved abortive.