Buhari won’t approve 65-year workers’ retirement age – Keyamo

Minister of State for Labour, Employment and Productivity, Festus Keyamo, has said the outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari, will not approve the newly proposed 65-year retirement age for Nigerian workers.

The minister gave the reason in an interview with The Punch in Abuja on Monday.

Recall that the Nigeria Labour Congress, through its National President, Joe Ajaero, had asked for a fresh retirement age for civil servants in the country during the 2023 Workers’ Day celebrations in Abuja.

Ajaero had also called for a general review of core civil servants’ salaries to narrow the gap between other civil servants’ emoluments and those in other segments of the public service, saying the extension of years of service should go around as it was being done in other sectors of the public service in the country.

“We are, therefore, demanding that the age of retirement and length of service in the entire public service, including the civil service, be reviewed upward to 65 years of age and 40 years of service, ” he had said.

But Keyamo said an increase in service years will be the call of the next administration.

“The process to effect that change to 65 years (if it is accepted by the Federal Government) is a process that cannot be completed before the end of the tenure of Buhari.  So, I guess the new administration will have to deal with that,” the minister said.