NLC shuts down FCT indefinitely

— Says no peace without justice

By Johnbosco Agbakwuru

ABUJA — The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, FCT Council, on Wednesday directed its members across the public and private sectors to commence an indefinite strike and shut down schools, hospitals and government offices over what it described as “obnoxious” promotion policies affecting FCT teachers.

The directive, which took effect on October 7, 2026, followed the expiration of a seven-day ultimatum issued to the FCT Administration, FCTA, on September 8 and what labour described as an “ambiguous and dismissive” response that failed to address its core demand: the removal of the vacancy requirement for teachers’ promotion.

At the centre of the dispute is the FCTA’s position that teachers can only be promoted when vacancies exist, a condition the NLC said was alien to the teaching profession and had resulted in years of career stagnation.

The NLC FCT Council, in resolutions signed by its Chairman, Comrade Knabayi Adalo, said teachers were neither core civil servants nor pool staff and should not be subjected to vacancy-based promotion schemes meant for pool officers.

It said teachers were recruited by the FCT Universal Basic Education Board, UBEB, and FCT Secondary Education Board, SEB, specifically to teach and should therefore be promoted “as and when due.”

The council reiterated three demands:

Removal of the vacancy requirement for the promotion of FCT teachers.
Reconsideration of teachers who were eligible in 2025 to sit for their promotion examination before or alongside the 2026 candidates.
Withdrawal of redeployment and demotion letters issued to directors who benefited from the Harmonised Retirement Age for Teachers Act, 2022, and immediate reinstatement of the dissolved management teams of FCT SEB and FCT UBEB.

In a communiqué issued after its State Executive Council, SEC, meeting on Monday, October 6, at the NLC FCT Secretariat, the council condemned the FCTA’s response as “neither clear, positive, nor genuine.”

It said the response failed to address the vacancy clause, which it described as the “root cause of career stagnation”, and remained silent on what it called the “illegal redeployment of directors.”

“The response of the FCTA is ambiguous and totally unacceptable,” the SEC said, adding that it “will no longer tolerate the continued dehumanisation of FCT teachers through obnoxious policies alien to the teaching profession.”

The SEC directed all workers in the FCT, public and private, to commence an indefinite strike from Wednesday, October 7, with offices, schools, hospitals and government establishments to remain shut “until the Council’s demands are fully met.”

Affiliate unions were directed to mobilise their members for total compliance, establish enforcement committees and ensure protection against victimisation of workers participating in the strike.

In a statement accompanying the strike declaration, the NLC FCT Council framed the action as a moral struggle rather than merely an industrial dispute.

“The FCTA’s attempt to sustain industrial harmony without addressing underlying injustice is mere wishful thinking,” the statement said. “There can be no peace without justice.”

The council appealed to parents, civil society organisations and “well-meaning Nigerians” to bear with workers and prevail on the FCTA to address the issues.

It insisted that the strike would be “total and indefinite.”

The action marks an escalation in the months-long dispute between the FCTA and teachers’ unions over promotion rules, following earlier threats and an extended ultimatum which labour said failed to produce a satisfactory resolution.

The NLC FCT Council maintained that there would be no return to work until its demands were fully addressed, with the removal of the vacancy requirement for teachers’ promotion remaining a key condition.

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