FCT workers begin indefinite strike over unfair teachers’ promotion policies

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has ordered an indefinite strike across the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), shutting down schools, hospitals, and government offices to protest stalled promotions of teachers.

The strike officially started on Wednesday, October 7, after the FCT Administration (FCTA) failed to act on a seven-day warning from the union.

Dawn Herald gathered that the core issue is a controversial government policy, where the FCTA are demanding that a vacant position must be available before a teacher can get a promotion which the NLC is against. The union argued that the rule has trapped many teachers in the same grade for years.

Comrade Knabayi Adalo, the NLC FCT Chairman, while speaking against the policy, stated that teachers are not standard office civil servants and should not be treated as such. He added that they were hired specifically to teach and that they deserve their promotions as soon as they are due.

The union is demanding for the government to allow teachers who were due for promotion in 2025 to take their exams alongside the 2026 candidates.

The NLC are also requesting for the government to withdraw demotion letters given to directors under the 2022 Harmonised Retirement Age for Teachers Act. They are demanding for the immediate return of the dissolved management teams for both the FCT secondary and basic education boards.

The labour leaders accused the FCTA of dodging the root cause of the career stagnation and that they will no longer tolerate the continued dehumanisation of FCT teachers through harsh policies that do not fit the teaching profession.