You Are Retired, No We Are Not
You Are Retired, No We Are Not
The Director-General of Administrative Staff College of Nigeria, ASCON, Topo, Badagry erroneously convinced the ASCON Board to retire four heads of department that were later recalled by the office of the head of civil service
By Ovie Edomi
Despite the remarkable improvement in the federal civil service, four academic staff of the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria, Topo, Badagry are not happy with how an error on the part of the director-general, DG, to retire them from service has brought them shame rather than reward in an institution they dutifully served for years.
Trouble started for the four directors when Adewale Peters, DG, ASCON, in a letter to them claimed that they have to proceed on retirement in the ground that they have spent eight years in office as heads of department, HODs. The DG then referred to the circular Ref No. HCSF/061/S.I/111/68 of 26th August 2009 issued by the Head of Civil Service as policy on Tenure Appointment for all Permanent Secretaries and Directors directing that all Permanent Secretaries and directories in the federal civil service should retire on the mandatory retirement age of 60 years, 35 years of pensionable service or who have spent eight years in office as director whichever comes first. Going by the circular, the DG averred that the HODs have spent eight years as directors and therefore convinced the governing council and management to mandatorily retire them.
Curiously, the four HODs were quickly paid their benefits and gratuities to pave way for their quick exit from the college. It was after they had collected their entitlement that it dawned on them that they a good case.
Consequently, they took their case to the head of service of the federation who directed that their case be properly looked into. An insider told the magazine in Abuja that ASCON is allied to a research institution and is expected to emulate the university system. The implication is that the retirement age of faculty staff and the equivalent is 65years.
Besides, the tenure policy according to inside sources, ought not to affect academic staff because clause 3,5,4 of the ASCON Act states that