House Passes Bill To Raise Teachers’ Retirement Age, Service Years

Lawmakers in the House of Representatives have passed a bill for a harmonised retirement age for teachers in the country.

The executive bill was passed on Tuesday at the resumption of plenary in the lower chamber of the National Assembly in Abuja, the nation’s capital.

Sponsored by the House Leader, Alhassan Doguwa, and his colleague Adekoya Abdul-Majid, the bill seeks to raise the retirement age for teachers from 60 to 65 years, as well as to increase the years of service from 35 to 40 years.

According to Doguwa, the bill seeks to continue to update the laws governing the working conditions of people in the education sector in good faith of the preservation of knowledge through good resources embedded in teachers.

Meanwhile, several new bills were presented during plenary on Tuesday in the green chamber. They include Orthopaedic Hospital, Dekina, Kogi State (Establishment) Bill, Sickle Cell Disease (Prevention, Control and Management) Bill, Nationwide Emergency Communications Service Bill, and Federal Medical Centre, Owutu Edda (Establishment) Bill.

Others are the National Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Robotic Studies, Abak (Establishment) Bill, Fire Service Act (Amendment) Bill, National Institute of Technology (NIT) Abuja, (Establishment) Bill, Port-Area Development Commission (Establishment) Bill, Federal Medical Centre, Gumel, Jigawa State (Establishment) Bill, Counterfeit Medical Products, Fake Drugs and Unwholesome Processed Foods (Prohibition and Control) Bill, and National Health Insurance Scheme Act (Amendment) Bill.

Also presented are Compulsory, Free Universal Basic Education Act (Amendment) Bill, Criminal Code Act (Amendment) Bill, Companies and Allied Matters Act (Amendment) Bill, Bureau of Defence Logistics (Establishment) Bill, Federal College of Agriculture, Etim Ekpo, Akwa Ibom State (Establishment) Bill, Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (Alteration) Bill, Veterinary Teaching Hospitals of Universities and Veterinary Specialist Hospitals (Establishment) Bill, and Unified and Special Operations Forces (Establishment) Bill.

Bills also read for the first time are Federal School of Medical Laboratory Technology, Gboko (Establishment) Bill, Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (Alteration) Bill, Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund Act (Amendment) Bill, National Archives Act (Amendment) Bill, Human Resource Development Council (Establishment) Bill, Currency Offences Act (Amendment) Bill, and Employees’ Compensation Act (Amendment) Bill, among others.