The Nigeria Labour Congress, FCT Council, has issued a seven-day ultimatum to the Federal Capital Territory Administration to resolve outstanding grievances involving teachers or face an indefinite strike.
The ultimatum was contained in a letter dated September 8, 2026, and addressed to the FCT Minister by the council’s Chairman, Knabayi S. Adalo.
The labour union’s warning follows months of disagreement between teachers and the FCT Administration over promotion procedures, retirement provisions and the redeployment of directors in educational agencies.
A major point of contention is the application of a vacancy requirement to teachers seeking promotion.
The NLC said the policy was inappropriate because teachers are field workers and are not part of the pool staff system, arguing that its application had resulted in “serious career stagnation” for affected teachers.
The dispute dates back to the 2025 promotion exercise when some FCT teachers protested against the vacancy condition and disrupted the promotion examination for workers under the FCT Administration.
The Nigeria Union of Teachers had also raised concerns that making vacancies a condition for teachers’ advancement could prevent eligible workers from progressing in their careers.
The NLC is now demanding that the vacancy requirement be removed from the promotion process for FCT teachers.
It also wants teachers who were eligible for the 2025 promotion examination but were prevented from participating to be allowed to sit for the examination alongside candidates for the 2026 exercise.
The congress said the situation had become more frustrating because promotion results for other cadres had been released while preparations for the 2026 examination were already underway.
Another issue raised by the NLC concerns the implementation of the Harmonised Retirement Age for Teachers in Nigeria Act, 2022.
The law provides for teachers to retire at 65 years of age or after 40 years of pensionable service, whichever comes first, and includes education officers within its definition of teachers.
The NLC also cited a July 2026 judgment of the National Industrial Court, which ruled against applying an eight-year tenure policy for directors to teachers and education officers where such application conflicts with the 2022 retirement law.
The court subsequently nullified relevant 2026 circulars issued by the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation and the Federal Ministry of Education to the extent that they affected teachers and education officers.
The labour body further protested the redeployment of directors of educational agencies who are covered by the harmonised retirement provisions back to classroom duties.
It alleged that some of their positions had subsequently been filled by junior officers, describing the development as “demoralising, humiliating and an aberration to the Public Service Structure.”
According to the NLC, the NUT FCT Wing had held meetings and written several letters to the relevant authorities, while also staging a peaceful protest, but the grievances remained unresolved.
The congress consequently gave the FCT Administration seven days from the receipt of its letter to address the three demands.
It warned that failure to comply would leave it with “no option but to direct all workers in the FCT to embark on an indefinite strike until our demands are met.”
The demands are the removal of the vacancy clause from teachers’ promotion, allowing eligible 2025 candidates to take the promotion examination alongside the 2026 candidates, and withdrawing the redeployment letters issued to directors of educational agencies and restoring them to their former positions.
Despite the ultimatum, the NLC said it remained open to dialogue and committed to maintaining industrial peace.
Meanwhile, the FCT Secondary Education Board’s published promotion guidelines generally make promotion subject to the availability of vacancies, alongside other requirements such as written examinations for eligible senior officers.
The teachers’ dispute is therefore specifically centred on the application of the vacancy requirement to FCT teachers and whether the condition is consistent with their career structure.
