The House of Representatives has given a nod to a bill that aims to extend the retirement age and service years of armed forces personnel.

The bill, which was sponsored by Hon. Jonathan Gaza and seven other lawmakers, seeks to amend the Armed Forces Act to allow the officers to retire at 65 years of age or after 40 years of service, whichever comes first. 

The current retirement age is 60 years and the service years is 35.

“The purpose of this bill is to ensure that serving military officers learn from the wealth of knowledge and experiences of retired senior military officers compulsorily retired as a result of the appointment of their junior as Chief of Defence Staff or Service Chiefs.” Mr Gaza said during the lead debate for the bill.

The bill also proposes to amend another section of the Act to enable the re-engagement of senior officers who are forced to retire due to the appointment of their juniors as service chiefs.

The bill argues that such officers have valuable knowledge and experience that can be used as consultants in military training institutions.

The bill was passed for a second reading after it was put to vote by Deputy Speaker Ben Kalu, who presided over the session.

It will be recalled that the federal government had earlier approved a similar extension for teachers in Nigeria from 60 years and 35 years to 65 years and 40 years, respectively, in January 2020. 

The Bill was sent to the National Assembly by the then president, Muhammadu Buhari, in June 2020 and was signed into law in April 2022.