By Desire Emmanuel
The National Industrial Court has voided the Federal Government’s policy requiring education directors to retire after spending eight years in office.
The court ruled that teachers and education officers who become directors are entitled to remain in service until they attain 65 years of age or complete 40 years in service.
Justice Olufunke Anuwe of the Abuja Division of the court on Tuesday, July 14, nullified circulars issued by the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation and the Federal Ministry of Education seeking to enforce the eight-year tenure rule against teachers and education officers serving as directors.
She held that the circulars on eight-year tenure were inconsistent with the provisions of the Harmonised Retirement Age for Teachers in Nigeria Act, 2022, and were therefore invalid to the extent that they applied to teachers and education officers.
Justice Anuwe added that serving as a director for eight years “is not a retirement condition for teachers any longer.”
“A teacher or education officer, whether he or she got to the post of Director or not, is entitled to retire from service on attaining 65 years of age or 40 years of service,” Justice Anuwe ruled.
According to court documents, the claimant, Rakiya Iliyasu, a Grade Level 17 Director in the University Education Department of the Federal Ministry of Education, challenged the directives requiring directors who had spent eight years in office to retire.
She told the court that as an Education Officer, she qualified as a teacher under the Harmonised Retirement Age for Teachers in Nigeria Act, 2022, which guarantees compulsory retirement only at the age of 65 years or after 40 years of service.
She further contended that the February 2026 circulars issued by the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation and the Federal Ministry of Education unlawfully sought to compel her and other education directors to retire before reaching the statutory retirement age.
Justice Anuwe, while agreeing with her, held that Section 3 of the Teachers’ Retirement Age Act expressly exempts teachers from any Public Service Rule requiring retirement before the age of 65 years or 40 years of pensionable service.
The judge also relied on the Act’s definition of a teacher, which expressly includes Education Officers, holding that the claimant fell squarely within the category of officers protected by the law.
The judge further observed that the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation had, in an earlier 2025 correspondence, acknowledged that education officers covered by the Act were exempt from the eight-year tenure policy, making the government’s subsequent issuance of retirement directives inconsistent with its earlier position.
Consequently, the judge declared the February 10, 2026 circular issued by the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation and the February 24 and February 26, 2026 circulars issued by the Federal Ministry of Education illegal, null and void insofar as they applied to teachers and education officers.
Justice Anuwe also set aside the three circulars and granted a perpetual injunction restraining the Federal Government and the Ministry of Education from implementing the eight-year tenure policy against teachers and education officers in a manner inconsistent with the Harmonised Retirement Age for Teachers in Nigeria Act. Each party was ordered to bear its own costs.
The dispute arose after the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation and the Federal Ministry of Education issued circulars in February 2026 directing that directors who had spent eight years in office should retire in line with Rule 020909 of the Public Service Rules.
The directives affected several directors in the Federal Ministry of Education who are career education officers, despite the enactment of the Harmonised Retirement Age for Teachers in Nigeria Act, 2022, which extended the retirement age of teachers in public educational institutions to 65 years or 40 years of pensionable service.
