NLC Rejects FCTA Response, Declares Indefinite Strike Across FCT

The Nigeria Labour Congress, FCT Council, has commenced an indefinite strike across the Federal Capital Territory over unresolved issues surrounding the promotion and welfare of teachers. The action began on Wednesday, October 7, 2026, following a decision reached at the council’s State Executive Council meeting held on Tuesday at Labour House, Abuja. In a statement signed by the FCT NLC Chairman, Knabayi S. Adalo, the union directed workers in both the public and private sectors to withdraw their services and remain at home until further notice. The decision followed the expiration of a seven-day ultimatum issued to the FCT Administration over demands including the removal of the vacancy requirement for teachers’ promotion, allowing eligible 2025 teachers to take their promotion examinations and withdrawing redeployment and demotion letters issued to directors covered by the Harmonised Teachers Retirement Age Act, 2022.

The NLC said the response from the FCT Administration failed to resolve the issues, particularly the vacancy-based promotion system and the alleged demotion of affected directors. The union maintained that teachers should not be treated like pool officers because they were employed specifically to teach and should be promoted when due. It warned that industrial harmony could not be achieved without addressing what it described as injustice against teachers, insisting that the action would be “total and indefinite.” The labour body appealed to FCT residents, particularly parents, to bear with workers and called on civil society groups and other Nigerians to urge the administration to resolve the dispute. As of press time, the FCT Administration had not publicly responded to the strike declaration.

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