Health ministry enforces eight-year rule, orders retirement of long-serving directors

The Federal Ministry of Health has ordered the immediate retirement of directors who have spent eight years or more in the directorate cadre in line with the Federal Government’s tenure policy for senior civil servants.

In a memo dated February 10, the Ministry directed that all affected officers who had completed eight years in the rank as of 31 December 2025 be disengaged from service with immediate effect.

Tetshoma Dafeta, Director overseeing the Office of the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry, signed the circular. The circular instructed heads of agencies, parastatals and federal health institutions to ensure that impacted officials hand over all government property and official documents without delay.

The directive follows a recent communication from the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation reinforcing the enforcement of the eight-year tenure limit across Ministries, Departments and Agencies.

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Under Section 020909 of the Revised Public Service Rules 2021, a director on Grade Level 17 or its equivalent is required to retire compulsorily after eight years in that position. Permanent secretaries, meanwhile, are limited to a four-year term, renewable subject to satisfactory performance.

The revised rules were approved by the Federal Executive Council in September 2021 and became operational on 27 July 2023.

The memo further ordered that the salaries of the affected officers be stopped through the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System and that any emoluments paid beyond their effective date of retirement be refunded to the Treasury.

“Accordingly, all Heads of Agencies and Parastatals are, by this circular, to ensure that the affected staff hand over all official documents/possessions with immediate effect, that their salaries are stopped by the IPPIS Unit, and mandate the officers to refund to the Treasury all emoluments paid after their effective date of disengagement.

“This is reiterated in a circular recently issued by the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Ref. No. HSCF/3065/Vol.I/225, dated 10 February,” the memo read.

The Health Ministry’s memo warned that failure to comply with the directive would attract “stiff sanctions”. It also directed institutions under its supervision to submit the nominal roll of all directorate officers — including those on CONMESS 07, CONHESS 15 and CONRAISS 15 — for monitoring purposes.

Officials from the civil service office and the health ministry are expected to conduct compliance checks in the coming weeks.