At least 150 senior officials of Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Education have continued to receive salaries even after their retirement, in violation of service regulations, SaharaReporters has learned.
These officials, who served as Unity School principals, ministry directors, and senior education officers, were re-enrolled in the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) despite their retirement. This was reportedly done by the Ministry of Education after they had left service.
Sources within the ministry revealed to SaharaReporters that the retirees exploited the Harmonised Retirement Age for Teachers in Nigeria Act 2022, which extended the retirement age for teachers to 65 years or 40 years of service.
The new law, which took effect on April 7, 2022, only benefits teachers and officials whose retirement dates fall after this enactment. However, officials scheduled to retire before April 7, 2022, are not covered by the new rule.
The law reads, “From [April 7, 2022], teachers in Nigeria shall compulsorily retire at 65 years or after 40 years of pensionable service, whichever comes first. Public Service rules mandating retirement at 60 or after 35 years will not apply to teachers in Nigeria.”
A circular from the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, dated May 22, 2022, reaffirmed that the new law takes precedence over earlier directives. The circular stated that any prior guidelines were no longer applicable following the passage of the Act.
Despite these legal provisions, SaharaReporters discovered that retired senior officials between January 1, 2021, and April 6, 2022, have remained in service.
“They continued coming to work after their retirement even though the system (IPPIS) had stopped their salaries. Once due for retirement, salaries are automatically halted,” a source confirmed.
The source added that the retirees used a ministry circular to stay in their positions, defying the new law on teacher retirement ages.
Documents seen by SaharaReporters indicate that the ministry has added these retirees back into the IPPIS, treating them as new staff members to facilitate continued salary payments.
“They’ve been re-enrolled on the IPPIS as new employees to ensure their salaries continue. This process also entitles them to arrears for the period during which payments were stopped,” another insider shared.
It is expected that each of these officials will receive arrears exceeding N7 million.
This practice has emerged while the ministry still owes junior employees, especially teachers hired in Unity Schools between 2018 and 2019, who have gone without salaries for nearly a year. There appears to be no immediate plan to address these salary arrears.
“The ministry claims it lacks funds to pay the junior school teachers their overdue salaries,” one source revealed. “Over 100 teachers employed between 2018 and 2019 in Federal Unity Colleges are still awaiting their salaries, with delays stretching almost 12 months.”
Yet, while junior staff remain unpaid, the ministry is moving to settle the arrears of these recaptured senior officials who should have long retired.
Attempts to get a response from Mr. Ben Bem Goong, the former Director of Press and Public Relations in the Ministry of Education, were unsuccessful as he confirmed he had been recently transferred to the Ministry of Livestock. Further efforts to reach officials at the Ministry of Education also proved futile.
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