Reported by Ariajegbe Sylvia Esezobor
The Academic Staff Union of Secondary Schools, Federal Capital Territory chapter, has rejected the indefinite strike declared by the Nigeria Labour Congress in the FCT, directing its members to resume duty and dissociating itself from the industrial action over the promotion of teachers and other welfare demands. In a statement issued on Wednesday, October 7, 2026, ASUSS said the strike was unnecessary and that the grievances raised by the NLC were already being addressed through administrative channels.
The union argued that the vacancy clause, which the NLC identified as the root cause of the dispute, remained a statutory provision of the Public Service Rules governing establishment control and financial planning. It said altering career structures required administrative dialogue rather than coercion, and that the framework for affected teachers had already been resolved, with the 2025 promotion process set to run concurrently with the 2026 cycle under the FCT Civil Service Commission. ASUSS directed all secondary school teachers and education officers in the territory to report for duty and continue their normal activities, saying the strike was not in the interest of students or the education system.
The NLC FCT Council had on Wednesday declared an indefinite strike, shutting down schools, hospitals, government offices and other establishments across the capital over what it described as the FCT Administration’s failure to address the concerns of teachers and other workers. The union demanded the immediate abolition of the vacancy clause, the inclusion of eligible 2025 candidates in promotion examinations, the reversal of redeployment and demotion letters issued to directors who benefited from the Harmonised Retirement Age for Teachers Act, 2022, and the dissolution and reinstatement of the management teams at the FCT Secondary Education Board and the FCT Universal Basic Education Board. The NLC said the strike would continue until all demands were met.
ASUSS, however, said it had reviewed the issues and concluded that the NLC’s approach was misguided. The union said it was not opposed to improving teachers’ welfare but insisted that the matter should be resolved through engagement with the FCT Civil Service Commission and the relevant education boards rather than through a strike that would disrupt learning and harm students. It noted that the vacancy requirement was not new and that its application was consistent with the rules governing the public service, adding that any change to the framework must follow due process and cannot be achieved through industrial action.
The FCT Administration had earlier directed a stay of action over the concerns raised by the NLC. In a letter dated September 29, 2026, the Head of the Civil Service, Mrs Nancy Nathan, said the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, had directed that the issues be stepped down while the FCT Civil Service Commission rescheduled the 2025 promotion examination for the affected education officers. The NLC dismissed the response as ambiguous and dismissive, saying it failed to address the vacancy clause and remained silent on the alleged illegal redeployment of senior directors.
The division among unions has complicated the industrial landscape in the FCT. The FCT Universal Basic Education Board had also directed all schools and departments under its jurisdiction to disregard the NLC’s strike directive, stating that discussions were ongoing with relevant authorities and that schools should remain open. ASUSS’s decision to direct its members to resume further weakens the NLC’s strike, particularly in the secondary school sub-sector, where ASUSS represents a significant proportion of teachers. The NLC had instructed affiliate industrial unions in both the public and private sectors to ensure total compliance among their members, but the refusal of ASUSS and the FCTA education boards to join the action suggests that the strike may not achieve the total shutdown the NLC anticipated.
The political dimension of the dispute has added a layer of complexity. Lere Olayinka, Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and Social Media to the FCT Minister, accused the NLC FCT Council Chairman of using the strike to advance the political interests of the African Democratic Congress. Olayinka alleged that the chairman was an aspirant for the chairmanship of Kuje Area Council under the ADC and that the strike was politically motivated to position his party ahead of the 2027 elections. The NLC has not responded to the allegation, and the chairman could not be reached for comment.
The 2027 general elections are less than four months away, and the strike carries significant political implications for the FCT, which is a key battleground in the presidential election. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is seeking a second term on the All Progressives Congress platform, while former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of the African Democratic Congress, former Anambra Governor Peter Obi of the Nigeria Democratic Congress and Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde of the Allied Peoples Movement are among the major challengers. The FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, has publicly staked his position on delivering the territory for the President, and a prolonged shutdown of schools, hospitals and government offices could disrupt daily life for millions of residents and complicate the administration’s messaging on governance and service delivery.
For the teachers of the FCT, the dispute has placed them between two unions with different approaches to the same set of grievances. The NLC believes that only sustained industrial action can force the administration to address the vacancy clause and other demands. ASUSS believes that dialogue and administrative processes offer the more realistic path to resolving the issues without disrupting education. For students and parents in the FCT, the decision by ASUSS to direct teachers to resume means that secondary schools may remain open even as other sectors shut down. For the FCT Administration, the split in the labour movement provides an opportunity to engage with ASUSS and the education boards while the NLC strike continues. As ASUSS put it, the vacancy requirement is a statutory provision of the Public Service Rules, and altering career structures requires administrative dialogue rather than coercion. The coming days will determine whether the NLC can sustain its strike without the support of ASUSS and whether the administration can resolve the underlying grievances before the shutdown causes lasting damage to the FCT’s education system.
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