The Federal Ministry of Health has ordered the compulsory retirement of all directors who have spent at least eight years in the directorate cadre, triggering a sweeping shake-up across the nation’s health bureaucracy.

The directive, conveyed in an internal memo signed by Tetshoma Dafeta, the director overseeing the Office of the Permanent Secretary, applies to directors in the ministry, federal teaching and specialist hospitals, and affiliated agencies and parastatals.

The memo cites the Federal Government’s eight-year tenure policy for directors, anchored in the Revised Public Service Rules 2021, which mandates that officers on director level must leave service after eight years in that rank. The rules also fix a four-year renewable tenure for permanent secretaries, subject to satisfactory performance.

According to the circular, all affected officers who would have completed eight years as directors by the stipulated cut-off date are to be “disengaged from service immediately.” Heads of agencies have been instructed to ensure that those directors hand over official documents and property without delay.

The memo further directs that the salaries of the affected officials be stopped by the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System unit and that any emoluments received beyond their effective disengagement date be refunded to the treasury.

To enforce compliance, institutions have been ordered to submit updated nominal rolls of all directorate-level officers on the relevant consolidated salary structures to the ministry via designated email addresses. Monitoring teams from the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation and the health ministry are expected to carry out spot checks.

The circular warns that failure to implement the directive will attract “stiff sanctions,” signalling the government’s determination to end the practice of extended tenures in top civil service positions.

The move follows the broader enforcement drive led by the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, which has repeatedly reminded ministries, departments and agencies that the revised Public Service Rules are now fully operational and binding.

Analysts say the mass exit of longstanding directors could open space for a new generation of senior managers in the health sector, but also raises concerns about potential disruptions in leadership at key institutions if succession plans are not clearly defined and swiftly executed.