ASUSS rejects FCT strike, tells secondary school teachers to report for work

The Academic Staff Union of Secondary Schools in the Federal Capital Territory has rejected the ongoing strike and directed its members and education officers to report for work.

The instruction sets ASUSS at odds with the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Nigeria Union of Teachers over the industrial action. It does not establish that all secondary schools are open or that teachers have complied.

ASUSS FCT chairman Julius Ogundiran issued the directive in Abuja on Wednesday, October 7, after an emergency meeting of the union’s State Executive Council. He described the strike as premature and harmful to students’ academic progress.

The NLC had ordered an indefinite strike after a seven-day ultimatum to FCT Minister Nyesom Wike expired over teachers’ promotion and career grievances. The NUT’s FCT Wing subsequently directed primary and secondary school teachers to stay at home. NaijaTrend’s earlier report on the NLC directive is here.

The dispute concerns the rule tying promotions to available vacancies, access to the 2025 promotion examination and the redeployment of some education directors to classrooms.

ASUSS said the vacancy requirement remained part of the Public Service Rules and argued that changes to career structures and financial approvals should be pursued through administrative engagement rather than a strike.

On promotion examinations, Ogundiran said the administration had already addressed the omission of some teachers from the 2025 exercise. Vanguard reported the union’s position that the 2025 exercise would run alongside the 2026 cycle under the FCT Civil Service Commission, following circulars issued in September.

The union also defended the redeployment of education directors as an exercise of management’s administrative powers. Those positions are ASUSS’s arguments in the dispute, not findings that the NLC’s grievances have been resolved.

Ogundiran asked eligible members to attend their scheduled promotion assessments. ASUSS also directed school leaders to maintain academic and administrative activities and appealed to parents and guardians to send their children to school.

Sources: Punch, Vanguard