Students sent home as NLC begins indefinite strike over welfare and promotion of teachers in Abuja

• Public schools in Abuja have shut down and sent students home.

• The NLC FCT Council declared the strike following an expired seven-day ultimatum.

• Teachers are protesting a "vacancy clause" that ties career progression to available open posts.

• The union wants the promotion rule scrapped, delayed exams held, and recent demotions reversed.

Academic activities across public primary and secondary schools in the Federal Capital Territory have come to a sudden halt, with students sent home as the FCT Council of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) commenced an indefinite strike.

The industrial action followed the expiration of a seven-day ultimatum issued to the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) over unresolved disputes regarding teachers' career advancement. In a communique signed by FCT NLC Chairman Comrade Knabayi S. Adalo, the union rejected the government's response, describing it as "ambiguous, dismissive and totally unacceptable".

At the heart of the dispute is the FCTA's decision to condition teacher promotions on available vacancies. The union strongly opposed the policy, stating that teachers are recruited specifically to teach and should be promoted as and when due.

"Teachers are not core civil servants nor pool staff and cannot be subjected to vacancy-based promotion meant for pool officers," Adalo declared.

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Beyond scrapping the vacancy requirement, the union is demanding that 2025-eligible teachers sit for promotion exams alongside 2026 candidates, while also insisting on the reversal of recent demotions and redeployments of directors under the Harmonized Retirement Age for Teachers Act.

Warning that the strike will remain total, Adalo dismissed the government's handling of the crisis, noting that "there can be no peace without justice".