Reps move to increase retirement age of military officers

By Christiana Ekpa

The House of Representatives has passed for second reading, a bill that seeks to increase the retirement age of military personnel to 65 years or 40 years in service.
The bill, sponsored by Jonathan Gaza was on Thursday, debated and subsequently passed for second reading.
The bill seeks to amend section 30 of the Principal Act by changing the retirement age of officers from 60 years to 65 years and service years from 35 years to 40 years.
“Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the Principal Act, the age of retirement for members of the Armed Forces shall be 40 years of Service or 65 years of age whichever comes first,” the proposed amendment reads.
The bill is also seeking to protect senior military officers who are forced to resign due to the appointment of service chiefs.
Also, if the bill is passed into law, officers who are forced to retire to the appointment of service chiefs are to be employed as service consultants.
“As from the commencement of this Bill, any Senior Serving Member of the Armed Forces of the Federation that is required to retire compulsorily by reason only that an officer of the same rank or a subordinate rank is appointed by the President of the Federal Republic, as the Chief of Defence Staff, or Chief of Army Staff, or Chief of the Naval Staff or Chief of the Air Staff, shall be engaged by the Chief of Defense Staff as Senior technical consultants for the training of officers of the Armed Forces of the Federation in the Nigerian Defence College, Armed Forces Staff College or any other like institution,” proposed section 18A of the bill reads.
The bill scaled and was referred to the House Committee on Defence for further legislative action