The National Industrial Court has nullified the Federal Government’s policy requiring education directors to retire after serving eight years in office, ruling that teachers and education officers are entitled to remain in service until they attain the age of 65 or complete 40 years of pensionable service.
Justice O. Y. Anuwe delivered the judgment in Abuja on July 10, declaring that circulars issued by the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation and the Federal Ministry of Education to enforce the eight-year tenure policy on education officers were inconsistent with the Harmonised Retirement Age for Teachers in Nigeria Act, 2022.
According to the court, the law protects teachers and education officers from retiring before reaching the statutory retirement age.
“A teacher or education officer, whether he or she got to the post of director or not, is entitled to retire from service on attaining 65 years of age or 40 years of service,” Justice Anuwe ruled.
The judge added that, “Serving as a director for eight years is not a retirement condition for teachers any longer.”
The suit was filed by Mrs. Rakiya Gambo Iliyasu, a Grade Level 17 Director in the University Education Department of the Federal Ministry of Education, who challenged directives requiring directors who had spent eight years in office to retire.
Iliyasu argued that as an education officer, she qualified as a teacher under the Harmonised Retirement Age for Teachers in Nigeria Act, 2022, which guarantees retirement only upon reaching 65 years of age or completing 40 years of pensionable service.
She maintained that circulars issued in February 2026 by the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation and the Federal Ministry of Education unlawfully sought to compel her and other education directors to retire before the age prescribed by law.
In its judgment, the court held that Section 3 of the Teachers’ Retirement Age Act exempts teachers from any Public Service Rule requiring retirement before the statutory retirement age. It also noted that the Act’s definition of a teacher expressly includes education officers, placing the claimant within the category protected by the law.
Justice Anuwe further observed that the Office of the Head of the Civil Service had earlier acknowledged in a 2025 correspondence that education officers covered by the Act were exempt from the eight-year tenure policy, making the subsequent retirement directives inconsistent.
The court consequently declared the February 10, 2026 circular issued by the Head of the Civil Service, as well as the February 24 and 26, 2026 circulars issued by the Ministry of Education, illegal, null and void to the extent that they applied to teachers and education officers.
The court also restrained the Federal Government and the Ministry of Education from enforcing the eight-year tenure policy against teachers and education officers in a manner that conflicts with the Harmonised Retirement Age for Teachers in Nigeria Act.
The dispute arose after the Federal Government directed directors who had spent eight years in office to retire under Rule 020909 of the Public Service Rules, a decision that affected several director-level education officers despite the 2022 law extending the retirement age of teachers and education officers to 65 years or 40 years of pensionable service.
