Retirement in the Federal Civil Service of Nigeria: Conceptual Issues

Abstract

Retirement is the act of ending one's regular employment, usually due to reaching a specific age. The Nigerian labour law is the legislation that governs and protects the rights of employees in Nigeria, including their working conditions, the minimum wage, pensions, and many other aspects of the country's labour force. One of the essential statutes of the Nigerian Labour law is the Pension Act which establishes official retirement age and pension scheme for civil servants, teachers and other workers in the labour. The official retirement age in Nigeria varies since ministries in the civil service have different retirement age based on their peculiarities ranging from age 60 to 65. While the number of years in service is 35 years. This paper examined the retirement in the Federal Civil Service of Nigeria: conceptual issues. Drawing from literatures reviewed, this study observed that Pensioners face extra challenges as a result of irregular payments of monthly pension and gratuity which is as a result of thefts and acts of corruption in the administration. In specific circumstances, retirees are entitled to hefty monthly pension arrears but are not paid in most situations. This study recommends amongst others that government should increase the powers of institutes monitoring pension managers in Nigeria, and these monitoring institutions should enforce the laws that govern the pension administration in Nigeria.

Keywords: Retirement, Federal Civil Service, Pension Act, Pensioners