Reps move to raise retirement age of police officers to 65

A bill seeking to raise the retirement age of members of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has scaled second reading in the house of representatives.

Tajudeen Abbas, speaker of the house, and Abubakar Yalleman from Jigawa, sponsored the bill which proposes to raise the retirement age of members of the NPF from 60 to 65, and from 35 to 40 years in service.

The bill proposes to amend section 18 of the Nigeria Police Act 2020.

It also seeks to review the service years of police personnel in order to “improve the experience and expertise of the police workforce to retain experienced personnel, and reduce the cost of training and recruiting new officers, improve the morale performance and job satisfaction, and to address the shortage of experienced police personnel”. 

In his lead debate during plenary on Tuesday, Yalleman, who chairs the house committee on police, said the amendment is needed to retain the experience of officers “who have been trained and have served for considerable years”.

“This experience is needed especially in this time of insecurity when experienced police officers are needed to help tackle insecurity in the country,” he said.

In October 2023, a similar bill seeking to raise the retirement age of members of the armed forces from 60 to 65, and from 35 to 40 years in service, scaled second reading in the green chamber.