The Kaduna State governor, Uba Sani, has issued an Executive Order increasing the retirement age of the academic staff of some State-owned tertiary institutions to 65 years.
The Executive Order, however, gives a caveat that academic staff must meet the necessary requirements.
Speaking at a news conference on Friday, the State’s Commissioner of Education, Prof. Muhammad Sani Bello, said that the decision followed a meeting with the governor and the management of the institutions as well as leadership of Academic Unions of all the State-owned tertiary institutions, which held last Tuesday.
The Commissioner said the academics had five demands and Governor Sani made pledges to fulfill some of them over a period of time but specifically said that the issue of retirement age will be resolved within 48 hours.
He said the governor has fulfilled the promise by signing the Executive Order Number 2 of 2024 on Thursday, which raised the retirement age of academic staff of Nuhu Bamalli Polytechnic Zaria, College of Education Gidan Waya and School of Nursing and Midwifery, to 65 years.
Prof. Bello, who noted that the Kaduna State Government was committed ensuring the smooth implementation of the policy across state-owned tertiary institutions, said that the Executive Order came into effect on Thursday, the day it was signed.
Recalling the issues discussed at the meeting, the Commissioner said that the governor listened to series of requests that had been lingering before the coming of his administration.
‘’There were five fundamental requests. Number one had to do with outstanding salaries and welfare benefits of the staff of these institutions. On that, His Excellency has graciously agreed to consider those outstanding payments and benefits.
‘’But of course, given the financial constraints that the state is facing, affordable amounts would be paid in staggered form until the outstanding liability is redeemed. That was the resolution,’’ he said.
‘’The next issue had to do with funding the institutions. We all know that since the implementation of the Treasury Single Account system in Kaduna State, tertiary institutions have been affected.
‘’They complained about funding which they require to run the day-to-day activities of the institutions. As a prelude to a complete reversal of the inclusion of tertiary institutions from TSA, His Excellency has also graciously agreed to commence sharing of the total revenue being collected by these institutions. There will be sharing formular within the first quarter of next year, that will be mutually agreed which will be fair to all parties,” he added.
The Commissioner said that the third issue which the meeting discussed had to do with the issue of tenure of academic staff of the some state-owned tertiary institutions, regarding retirement age.
Prof. Bello added that it is a national policy that staff of similar institutions across the country are supposed to adopt 65 years as retirement age but ‘’unfortunately for Kaduna State, we have been left behind.’’