Academic activities were paralysed yesterday in public primary and secondary schools across the six area councils of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as teachers commenced an indefinite strike over unresolved issues relating to promotion, career progression and welfare.
The strike followed the expiration of a seven-day ultimatum issued to the FCT Administration by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), FCT Council, over the teachers’ demands.
Consequently, pupils and students who reported for classes were turned back in some schools, while others met locked gates or classrooms without teachers.
The NLC had directed its members to withdraw their services from Wednesday, October 7, after its State Executive Council meeting at Labour House, Abuja, reviewed the FCT Administration’s response to the ultimatum and declared it unsatisfactory.
Among the union’s key demands are the removal of the vacancy requirement as a condition for the promotion of FCT teachers; allowing teachers eligible for the 2025 promotion examination to sit for it before or alongside the 2026 candidates; and the withdrawal of redeployment or demotion letters issued to directors affected by the Harmonised Retirement Age for Teachers Act, 2022.
The union also demanded the dissolution of the management teams of the FCT Secondary Education Board (SEB) and the FCT Universal Basic Education Board (UBEB), as well as the immediate reinstatement of affected officials.
The NLC, led in the FCT by Comrade Stephen Knabayi, said the administration’s response was neither clear, positive nor genuine, alleging that it failed to address the fundamental issue of the vacancy clause.
According to the council, the policy had contributed to career stagnation and demoralisation among teachers despite their contributions to the education sector.
It consequently directed all workers in the FCT, including those in the public and private sectors, to commence an indefinite strike, saying schools, offices, hospitals and other government establishments would remain shut until its demands were addressed.
Daily Trust checks across the territory yesterday showed that the industrial action disrupted academic activities in several schools.
At Government Junior Secondary School, Nahari, in Abaji Area Council, some students were seen in classrooms without teachers, while others stood around the school premises.
There was also no teacher at the nearby LEA Primary School, where a few pupils were seen playing in the compound.
A teacher, Ibrahim Aliyu, said the teachers embarked on the strike in compliance with the NLC directive after the FCT Administration failed to address their demands.
Similarly, at Bonugo LEA Primary School in Kwali Area Council, the main gate was open, but only a few teachers and pupils were seen around the premises, with no lessons taking place.
At LEA Demonstration Primary School, Gwagwalada, some pupils were seen playing while teachers gathered in groups discussing the strike.
A teacher, Danjuma Gabriel, said the action followed the failure of the administration to address the issues raised by the teachers.
Government Secondary School, Gwagwalada, was under lock, with no students inside. A security guard said the school was shut because the teachers were on strike, adding that some pupils who came to school were turned back.
The situation was similar at LEA Primary School, Unguwar Kayarda, in Kuje Area Council, where academic activities were disrupted, while the main gate of Government Secondary School, Kuje, remained locked.
The impact of the strike was also felt at Idu-Koro, Abuja, where pupils and students arrived at school only to be informed that there would be no classes.
At Government Primary School, Idu-Koro, a Primary Four pupil, 12-year-old Benedita, expressed disappointment over the development.
“I want to go to school and learn,” she said.
Another pupil, Zahra Yusuf Mwame, a Basic 3 pupil, said, “I miss learning.”
A Senior Secondary 2 student of Government Secondary School, Idu-Koro, Etho Gift Eme, said she was sad that students who had paid school fees could no longer attend classes.
“I feel sad because some of us paid school fees and we can’t go to school,” she said.
She said the students were simply told to go home “till further notice”.
A teacher and examination officer at JSS Idu-Koro, Jonah Taimako, said some students were reluctant to leave the school after learning about the strike.
“They were even asking me if any teacher could just come in to teach them one or two. But they don’t want to go home like that,” he said.
Taimako said parents were also worried about keeping their children at home, particularly as some could spend their time roaming about instead of learning.
The principal of JSS Idu-Koro, Adagadzu Dauda Benjamin, said the strike was the result of unresolved grievances between the teachers and the FCT Administration.
Benjamin, who said he was personally affected by the redeployment directive, described the policy as unacceptable.
“This is wrong, and cannot happen in the Civil Service; for a director to be demoted to ordinary classroom teacher,” he said.
An English Language teacher and Staff Secretary of JSS Idu-Koro, Danjuma Ensely, also criticised the vacancy requirement for promotion, arguing that teachers should be promoted based on merit.
“How can you say that there is no vacancy in the classroom? We have vacancies everywhere, and we have few teachers to handle over 1,000 students, and you say there is no vacancy?” he said.
Ensely alleged that some teachers who passed promotion examinations had been denied advancement, while promotion arrears dating from 2021 to 2024 remained unpaid.
“Teachers wrote exams, and some of them passed, but they were denied,” he said.
He appealed to the government to address teachers’ welfare and promotion concerns through dialogue rather than allowing disputes to repeatedly disrupt academic activities.
The NUT chairman, Kubwa chapter, Comrade Ameh Baba, also criticised the policy concerning teachers who attain director-level positions, arguing that the extension of teachers’ retirement age should allow affected officers to continue serving in appropriate positions until retirement.
He maintained that the vacancy clause should not be used to deny promotion to teachers who had successfully passed promotion examinations.
Baba acknowledged some achievements recorded by FCT Minister Nyesom Wike but said the administration had fallen short in addressing workers’ welfare concerns.
Parents lament disruption
Meanwhile, parents have expressed concern over the disruption, particularly as pupils and students had just resumed for the new academic term.
Mrs Mary Ebenezer said she took her two daughters to school but was asked by teachers at the gate to return them home.
She appealed to Wike and other stakeholders to intervene and resolve the dispute.
The FCT Chairman of the Parent-Teacher Association, Alhaji Usman Abubakar, also urged the minister to bring the labour unions and the administration to the negotiating table in the interest of pupils, students and parents.
At Idu-Koro, the school’s PTA chairman, Tanko Wambai, said parents were unhappy with the strike and urged the government to convene a stakeholder meeting to resolve the dispute permanently.
He alleged that some agreements reached between the government and teachers after previous strikes were not fully implemented, resulting in renewed disputes.
“After an agreement and the strike is called off, the government will not implement its promises,” he said.
Wambai said the repeated disruptions were particularly disturbing because pupils had already spent a long period on holiday and were expected to settle into academic activities at the beginning of the new term.
“No child is happy about it. All children want to learn. They know that their parents are spending money for them to learn. They don’t want to stay at home,” he said.
Another teacher and parent, Mrs Ronke Omolara, said the strike was also affecting working parents who depended on schools to keep their children engaged and safe while they worked.
“As a parent, it’s not good for us because the children will be at home, roaming about, which is not the best,” she said.
ASUSS rejects strike
However, while the strike took effect in several schools, the Academic Staff Union of Secondary Schools (ASUSS), FCT chapter, dissociated itself from the action and directed secondary school teachers and education officers to report for work.
In a statement issued after an emergency meeting on Wednesday, ASUSS described the strike as premature and detrimental to educational stability, arguing that the academic future of students should not be compromised because of an industrial dispute.
The union said the vacancy requirement was a statutory provision of the Public Service Rules governing establishment control and financial planning, adding that changes to career structures should be handled through administrative dialogue.
It also said the administrative framework for the 2025 promotion exercise had been resolved, with the process scheduled to run concurrently with the 2026 promotion cycle under the FCT Civil Service Commission.
ASUSS further maintained that the redeployment of directors of education agencies to classrooms fell within management’s statutory powers.
It alleged that the strike could disrupt the scheduled 2025/2026 promotion examinations for FCT education officers and urged eligible officers to participate in the examinations according to the published timetable.
The union also called on parents to send their children to school, directing secondary school principals, vice-principals and education officers to keep schools open and ensure that teachers report to their classrooms.
Daily Trust
