Lecturers, Delta govt disagree over retirement age

From Paul Osuyi, Asaba

AGBOR chapter of Academic Staff Union of Col­leges of Education (COEASU), Delta State, has vowed to resist proposed retirement of its members who attained the age of 60 years by the state govern­ment.

Rising from an emergency congress at the Col­lege of Education, Agbor, chairman of the union, Dr. Great Ossai, confirmed that the government had already issued retirement notice to some academic staff that had attained 60 years retirement age.

Ossai said the union was already working towards ensuring that such notices were withdrawn, adding that if government refused to withdraw the notices, the union would be left with no other option than to take drastic action.

The union leader, however, enjoined members to remain calm, as he was confident that Governor Ifeanyi Okowa would not openly violate the Col­lege Edict and Condition of Service or the NCCE Policy on retirement of academic staff.

But Commissioner for Higher Education, Mr. Jude Sinebe, insisted that the affected academic staff should be ready to proceed on retirement, say­ing the law the union was holding on to had not be domesticated in the state.

Sinebe said the retirement policy was applicable to all the state-owned tertiary institutions, adding that the immediate past administration started the process of domesticating the law, extending retire­ment age to 65 but was not completed.