ASUU: Professors now to retire at 70 –Senate

n a bid to resolve the prolonged strike by the Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities (ASUU), Senate has pegged the retirement age of university professors at 70 years. The extant retirement age is 65 years.
The nation’s upper legislative chamber on Wednesday raised the retirement age of other academics below the professorial level from 60 years to 65 years along with Non-Academic Staff of Universities (NASU).www.mannastores.com

Last year, Prof. Ruqqayat Rufa’i told the Senator Uche Chukwumerije-led Education Committee that the insistence of ASUU on the raising of retiring age of university professors from 65 to 70 years had always stopped negotiations between government and the union.
In his remarks during the passage of the bill, which scaled the crucial third reading yesterday, Senate President David Mark said since the Senate had granted ASUU’s request, they should consider the students and return to the classrooms.

“We have passed the bill into law to meet the demands and yearnings of ASUU. There is the need to get ASUU back to the classrooms so that our children can go back to their classes.” The Senate president, however, noted that, “there are serious constitutional issues to be addressed and we have to pursue them and unless we do that, we may be confronted with problems in the future and that is why we have to take cognizance of Section 318 of the constitution.”

Senate, however, refused to pass the section of the bill that guarantees payment of salaries to university professors after retirement despite arguments of some senators that retiring professors should enjoy pensions like retired military officers. Also on Wednesday, Senate passed into law the retirement age of staff of Federal Polytechnics and Colleges of Education Bill. In his report, Chukwumerije said the committee called for and received memoranda from ASUU and other relevant stakeholders.

To this end, he said the committee resolved that; “an academic staff who retires as a professor in a recognized university shall be entitled to pension at a rate equivalent to his last monthly salary.”