SAN FRANCISCO, June 08, (THEWILL) – The Federal Government has directed massive retrenchment and retirements in all paramilitary agencies under the Ministry of Interior.
According to a report by Independent Newspaper, the directive is coming with the approval of the Minister of Interior, Gen. Abdulrahman Danbazzau (rtd), through a circular dated May 25, 2016 and addressed to all Chiefs of Services under the Interior Ministry namely Immigration, Prisons, Fire and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).
Signed by A. A. Ibrahim, Director/Secretary of the Civil Defence, Fire, Immigration and Prisons Services Board (CDFIPB), the various heads of the agencies are by the directive, given a veiled order to commence its implementation after they have notified officers and men in their services.
The report adds that the directive is sequel to an earlier decision in December, last year, by the Joint Services Board (JSB), where it was resolved to expand the parameters for retirement of officers and men in the employment of agencies under the supervision of the board.
The JSB in that resolution opted to go beyond the extant civil service provisions with regard to when an officer exits the service to import other parameters which, according to the report, are not only irrelevant to the agencies but strange to the various Acts setting up the paramilitary bodies.
The civil service for instance provides that an officer retires at 60 years of age or after 35 years of service whereas the JSB introduced a maximum age/rank based ceiling to determine exit points of officers and men, in addition to what is provided in the Acts that set them.
For instance an Assistant Controller of Prisons must have attained that rank between 34 and 48 years of age, otherwise he would have to retire from the service.
Similarly, a Comptroller General of Immigration must have also attained that rank within 50-60 years or exit. For ACGs the ceiling is 42-56 while DCGs is 46-58 years.
The import of this is that many officers and men who have stagnated in a position due to lack of vacancies because of the new age ceiling, would be forced out of service.
But some staff of the agencies who have sighted the directive have raised the alarm on a wholesale importation of military rule and scheme of service into the paramilitary services.
They are of the view that the directive is instigated by the minister, a retired general. Accordingly, they insist that a full implementation of the directive cannot work unless an amendment of relevant Acts that set up the agencies are carried out by the National Assembly.
Story by David Oputah
