Bill to harmonize retirement age of Benue teachers passes second reading

By Onyeje Abutu-Joel

The Benue House of Assembly on Wednesday read the Bill to Harmonise the Retirement Age of Teachers in the state, 2023 for the  second time.

In a lead debate, the Majority Leader, Mr Damian Cheme, said the decision of the State Government to domesticate the law followed the National Assembly’s Harmonised Retirement Age for Teachers in Nigeria Act, 2022.

Cheme said that the bill seeks to extend the service years of teachers in primary and secondary schools in the state from 60 to 65 years of age or 40 years of active service.

He, therefore, moved a motion for the second reading of the bill and urged his colleagues to support it.

According to him, the bill, when passed, would enable teachers to get their rewards here on earth as against the saying that “teachers’ reward is in heaven”.

Seconding the motion, the Minority Leader, Mr Bem Mngutyo, described the bill as apt and, when passed into law, would motivate teachers in the primary and post primary schools to put in their best.

In a unanimous resolution, the house agreed that the bill be read for the second time.

The Deputy Speaker, Mr Christopher Adaji, who presided over the Wednesday’s plenary session, directed the clerk of the house, Mr Benard Nule, to read the bill for the second time.

Adaji, thereafter, referred the bill to the House Committee on Education, Science and Technology for further scrutiny.

(NAN)