The governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki, has made plans for his administration to lengthen the number of years that teachers in the state are required to serve in their positions.
To accomplish this, the governor has sent the Edo House of Assembly the Harmonized Retirement Age Bill, which would raise the retirement age for teachers in the state.
At the 2023 Teachers’ Day ceremony, which was held in the Conference Hall of Teachers House on Siluko Road in Benin City, Obaseki made this revelation to the audience of teachers.
He explained that the bill was intended to harmonize the current service and retirement ages for teachers, which calls for raising the service years from 30 to 35 years and the retirement age from 60 to 65 years. He added that his administration would start enforcing the new laws as soon as the House passed the bill into law.
The release of approval letters for a standardized retirement age for teachers, he said, “I don’t see why you should be concerned about. I won’t say or do anything that I won’t follow through on.
“This is a legal matter. To domesticate it and pass it into law, I have sent a bill to the House of Assembly. As soon as I receive it from the House of Assembly, I will start putting it into practice.
The governor praised the educators for their dedication to the state’s educational system and their diligent implementation of administration policies, particularly the EdoBest policy, which he claimed has received widespread praise and success on a global scale.
He said that because they have done a good job of developing the educational sector, his administration has the best interests of the teachers at heart.
Obaseki emphasized that he would keep doing everything in his power to make sure that their welfare is given top priority in the state.
In addition to paying them their full salaries for the entire month and the “13th month” he promised Edo State workers, the governor also assured the teachers that his administration would pay them half of their December salaries.
“Teachers say I should give them palliatives or gifts for today. I have already promised all workers in Edo State that you will get your 13th month salaries this year. What I will add as a gift to celebrate the teachers because of the World teachers’ day celebration is that, all the teachers will get an additional half a month bonus,” he said.