20th January, 2021
By Ismaila Chafe/Abuja
President Muhammadu Buhari has approved a new deal for Nigerian teachers via a package of incentives approved today by the Federal Executive Council
Under the new deal, the retirement age of teachers across the country has been increased from 60 to 65 years or 40 years in service as against 35.
Teachers will also begin to enjoy special allowances, like rural posting allowance and science teachers’ allowance.
The incentives are meant to boost teacher education in the country.
Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu revealed this when he briefed State House correspondents on the outcome of the Council meeting, which was presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja on Wednesday.
He said the Federal Executive Council also approved that the ‘Harmonized Retirement Age for Teachers in Nigeria Bill 2020’ be sent to the National Assembly to give legal backing to the approval.
Prior to this development, the retirement age of teachers in the country was 60 years or 35 years in service.
The minister said government decided to increase the years as a reward for teachers’ dedication to duty and also to attract more people to the profession.
“This memo that was approved for the Ministry of Education is a giant step towards what we set out to do last year, with the approval of some special packages for teachers by the President”, Adamu said.
“The essence of the bill actually is to give legal backing for the approval of a new retirement age of 65 for teachers and then the service period being extended to 40 years.
“The intention is to attract the best brains to the teaching profession and for that, the president approved the reintroduction of bursary awards, improving teacher quality, funding teaching practice from TETFUND, enhanced entry point for teachers.’’