The Federal Government has ordered all Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) to stop sending retiring civil servants on a compulsory three-month pre-retirement leave. The government clarified that such a holiday does not exist anywhere within the Public Service Rules (PSR).
This directive was made public through a circular signed by Didi Walson-Jack, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation. The document was distributed to ministers, permanent secretaries, service chiefs, heads of agencies, and other top public sector administrators.
In the circular, titled “Correct Interpretation of Public Service Rule 120243 on Pre-Retirement Activities,” Walson-Jack pointed out that various MDAs had misconstrued the retirement notice window as an automatic vacation. This error has frequently resulted in experienced officers leaving active service prematurely.
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She explained that the actual rule requires retiring personnel to give a three months’ notice prior to their official exit date, participate in a one-month pre-retirement training or seminar, and utilize the rest of the period to finalize their service records and pension papers.
“The so-called ‘mandatory three-month pre-retirement leave’ has no basis in the Public Service Rules,” Walson-Jack stated.
She further noted that Rule 120243 outlines three distinct steps: giving official notice, attending a pre-retirement seminar during the first month, and sorting out retirement documentations over the final two months.
“A retiring officer must give three months’ notice before their effective date of retirement. This is a notice requirement, not a leave entitlement,” the circular stated.
The Head of Service emphasized that employees remain active public servants throughout this notice window and must continue to perform their official duties, unless they are attending approved retirement workshops or have been granted authorized absence under existing leave regulations.
“PSR 120243 does not exempt retiring officers from official duties during the notice period, except where they are attending an approved pre-retirement workshop or seminar, or are otherwise authorised to be absent under extant leave rules,” the circular added.
As a result of this clarification, MDAs have been ordered to stop forcing retiring personnel to vacate their offices before their official retirement dates.
Under these instructions, government bodies must ensure that these employees keep handling their job descriptions, participate in required pre-retirement programs, and complete all pension and service record updates before their final disengagement.
Furthermore, permanent secretaries, directors-general, executive secretaries, statutory agency chairpersons, and chief executives of government organizations have been instructed to pass this information down to all staff and enforce strict compliance.
This policy shift will affect thousands of federal workers approaching retirement every year. For decades, many MDAs treated this notice period as an extended vacation, telling staff to stop coming to work once their retirement notices were filed.
In practice, many workers spent these months at home waiting for their retirement paperwork to process.
The directive aims to harmonize how the Public Service Rules are applied across all government institutions, preserving manpower by keeping seasoned professionals on the job until their final day.
The government also believes this will boost service delivery, allowing the civil service to benefit from the expertise of retiring officers while they simultaneously wrap up their pension documentation.
Nigeria’s federal civil service framework is governed by the Public Service Rules and the Pension Reform Act, which state that civil servants must retire either when they turn 60 years old or complete 35 years of service, depending on which comes first.
For years, delayed pension payouts and administrative discrepancies in personal files have been a major headache for retiring public servants. This situation led the government to encourage early documentation and verification.
Pre-retirement seminars were introduced to ease the transition to post-service life and guide workers through the pension paperwork. However, conflicting interpretations among different MDAs created a widespread misconception that a compulsory three-month pre-retirement leave was standard practice.
This new circular eliminates that confusion by declaring that the three-month window is meant for administrative preparation and official notification, not for an automatic absence from work.
