Teachers in primary and secondary schools in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have suspended their strike action.
The suspension was contained in a communique issued at the end of an emergency State Executive Council (SEC) meeting of the FCT Council of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), held on Friday, October 16, 2026, at the Labour House, Abuja, under the leadership of Comrade Stephen Knabayi.
A copy of the communique was obtained by our reporter late Tuesday night.
The NLC said the strike was suspended following exhaustive deliberations and consultations on the issues that led to the indefinite industrial action. It said a series of interventions and reconciliation meetings had been held with the FCT Administration, resulting in resolutions that were reached and documented.
The union said the resolutions included provisions for the promotion of education officers. It explained that vacancies for education officers would be based on establishment positions declared by the Education Secretariat, noting that a sizeable number of directorate staff were expected to leave the service soon, thereby creating vacancies for the upward movement of officers.
On the 2025 promotion examination, the union said the FCT Civil Service Commission would be notified of the Executive Council’s approval, while a new date would be announced to enable eligible candidates to sit for the examination.
On the redeployment of officers enjoying the harmonised retirement age for teachers back to the classrooms, the FCT NLC executive directed that the matter be stepped down pending further directives.
In view of the resolutions and in the spirit of social dialogue and industrial harmony, the NLC said the SEC had resolved to suspend the indefinite strike with immediate effect.
“And that all workers, particularly FCT teachers, are directed to resume work on Wednesday, October 21, 2026. The NLC FCT Council shall constitute a monitoring committee to ensure full implementation of the resolutions within the agreed timelines,” the communique said.
The communique added that “failure to implement any of the resolutions shall lead to automatic resumption of the strike without further delay notice.”
Recall that teachers in primary and secondary schools across the six area councils of the FCT, under the umbrella of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), embarked on an indefinite strike on Wednesday, October 7, 2026, following a directive from the FCT NLC.
The strike followed alleged failure by the FCT Administration to meet the teachers’ demands, including the provision of vacancies as a precondition for teachers’ promotion, among other issues.
