A frontline group, the Committee for Patriotic Nigeria (CPN) has called on the National Assembly to revisit the current retirement age of 6o as the statute establishing it has expired. Until now, Civil Servants retire at the mandatory age of 60 or after attaining the compulsory working bar of 35 years. “That’s a barrier that is outdated and can no longer be sustained”, said Mr. Akin Odunsi. He based his report on the fact that since 1960, such laws are yet to be repealed. “The National Assembly has the right to revisit the bar and see how it can be modified to fit current circumstance”, Akin further stated. After being highly trained to professional levels, most civil servants end up in the void because they are suddenly jobless. “Many of them are still vibrant, articulate but find themselves out of circulation”, Odunsi said. He expressed regrets that many of them become handicapped, caught by the endless wave of struggles to get their Pension benefit processed not to talk of being paid. “In this circumstance, they cannot focus; they become distracted and confused”, he said. The newspaperman believes that the National Assembly should increase the age of retirement to 65 years like it is in the tertiary Institutions, Judiciary and elsewhere.” As it is now, retirement in the Nigerian parlance is almost akin to being condemned to death. “They see retired civil servants as anathema who should be avoided; even his former workplace people stylishly severe all communications with them”, disclosed Mr. Odunsi. At 65, many of them could still be useful; that’s the tonic they need to move into the final stages of their lives. In the same vein, the Group also calls on the National Assembly to review the age barrier for the employment of eligible Nigerians. “How do you say people who have attained the age of 25 and above need not apply in any establishment?” asked Mr. Godwin Izedume a young graduate of sociology. “I graduated in 2015 and till today I have no job and yet am now 26 plus”, he said. Now, for people like Mr. Izedume, he is automatically blacklisted for being over-aged! This practice is so rampant that whenever any advertisement is placed, job seekers would first rush to see the age barrier if they eligible or not. “That’s how depression and gloom set in”, explained Izedume. “The meaning is that there is no hope for those of us unlucky to be employed soon after leaving school”, he said adding his voice to those calling on National Assembly to do the needful. As matter of fact, members of the National Assembly are too concentrated on budget and probe matters. “There are better things to do such as removing this age barrier and the retirement age of civil servants.
