No fewer than four directors and 22 senior staff of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) are seeking for voluntary retirements from the agency.
The voluntary retirement which is optional is also known as Golden handshake aimed at retiring earlier from the service before the due date. 
The scheme, The Tide gathered, is part of the agency’s condition of service for staff on grade levels 15 to 17 with less than five years in service.
“The practice of golden handshake is not new in NIMASA. It has happened twice during the tenure of the immediate past NIMASA Director General, Dakuku Peterside and during Patrick Akpobolokemi’s tenure, where officers that have a particular number of years or less to exit service are advised that if they are interested in the voluntary retirement, they can indicate in writing and so many people wrote.
“Quite a number of senior staff also wrote recently. It is to allow for progression. If the top is weeded, it allows those under to grow,” a source at the NIMASA said.
The Tide also gathered that scores of staff in NIMASA had indicated interest in voluntary retirement through letters.
It was learnt that any employee that opts for voluntary retirement gets 45 days salary for each completed year of service or monthly emoluments at the time of retirement, multiplied by the remaining months of service before his or her retirement date, including provident fund and gratuity.

By: Chinedu Wosu