Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The House of Representatives, yesterday, approved a bill seeking to remove age barriers on employment into Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) in the country.
The new law, titled: “A bill for an Act to prohibit discrimination against job seekers in federal government agencies (eradication) and allied matters Act,” sponsored by Sergius Ogun, pegged minimum age for recruitment into the federal civil service at 45 years.
According to section 3 (1) and (2) of the bill, “no citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria shall be deprived of employment into any of the agencies of the federal government, on grounds that he /she is above thirty (30) years of age.
“Any citizen of Nigeria that is thirty (30) years and above but not above forty-five (45) years, shall be entitled to gainful employment within any of the agencies of the federal government of Nigeria.
Section 3 (3) provides “that the provisions of the above subsections shall be subject to the provisions of the laws establishing security agencies, including the Armed forces and other paramilitary agencies with regards to age for enlistment in the relevant security agencies,” while section 3 (4) provides that “where a person to be employed into any of the federal government’s agencies is found to be qualified but of an age that is above the age limit specified for such employment, the abilities and/or qualification of such person shall had recourse to and his age shall not operate as a disqualification.”