FG has abolished the mandatory three-month pre-retirement leave for civil servants and ordered MDAs to comply with public service rules.
NewsOnline Nigeria reports that the Federal Government has directed all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to immediately stop placing civil servants on mandatory three-month pre-retirement leave, clarifying that such a provision does not exist in the Public Service Rules (PSR).
The directive was issued in a circular signed by the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Didi Walson-Jack, and addressed to ministers, permanent secretaries, service chiefs, heads of agencies and other senior government officials.
Titled “Correct Interpretation of Public Service Rule 120243 on Pre-Retirement Activities,” the circular explained that several MDAs had incorrectly interpreted the three-month retirement notice period as an automatic leave entitlement, resulting in the premature disengagement of officers from active service.
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According to the Head of Service, Rule 120243 only requires officers approaching retirement to provide three months’ notice before their retirement date, attend a one-month pre-retirement workshop or seminar, and use the remaining period to regularise their service records and pension documentation.
“The so-called mandatory three-month pre-retirement leave has no basis in the Public Service Rules,” the circular stated.
Walson-Jack explained that the rule establishes three separate obligations: notification of retirement, participation in a pre-retirement seminar during the first month, and completion of retirement-related administrative processes within the remaining two months.
“A retiring officer must give three months’ notice before their effective date of retirement. This is a notice requirement, not a leave entitlement,” she emphasized.
The circular further clarified that officers due for retirement remain public servants throughout the notice period and are expected to continue performing their official duties except when attending approved retirement programmes or when otherwise authorised to be absent under existing leave regulations.
Consequently, all MDAs have been directed to discontinue the practice of asking retiring officers to vacate their offices before their official retirement dates.
Under the new directive, retiring officers are expected to continue carrying out their responsibilities while simultaneously participating in approved pre-retirement programmes and completing pension and service record reconciliations.
The Head of Service also instructed permanent secretaries, directors-general, executive secretaries, chairpersons of statutory agencies and chief executives of government institutions to ensure strict compliance with the clarification.
The directive is expected to affect thousands of federal civil servants approaching retirement each year.
For decades, many government agencies treated the retirement notice period as a form of extended leave, often requiring officers to stop reporting for duty once retirement notices had been submitted.
The Federal Government believes the clarification will improve service delivery, preserve institutional knowledge and prevent the loss of manpower caused by the early withdrawal of experienced officers from public service.
Nigeria’s retirement system is governed by the Public Service Rules and the Pension Reform Act, under which civil servants retire upon attaining 60 years of age or after 35 years of service, whichever comes first.
The latest circular seeks to eliminate long-standing ambiguities surrounding retirement procedures and establish a uniform interpretation of the rules across the federal public service.
