Court stops FG from retiring education directors after eight years

…upholds teachers’ retirement at 65

By Joseph Erunke, Abuja

The National Industrial Court of Nigeria has ruled that teachers and education officers who become directors in the Federal Civil Service cannot be compulsorily retired after spending eight years in office, declaring that they are entitled to remain in service until they attain 65 years of age or complete 40 years of pensionable service.

In a landmark judgment delivered in Abuja on July 10, 2026, Justice O. Y. Anuwe 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 Federal Government’s eight-year tenure policy on directors who are teachers and education officers.

The court held that the circulars were inconsistent with the Harmonized Retirement Age for Teachers in Nigeria Act, 2022, and therefore invalid to the extent that they applied to teachers and education officers.

The suit, marked NICN/ABJ/79/2025, was instituted by Rakiya Gambo Iliyasu, a Grade Level 17 Director in the University Education Department of the Federal Ministry of Education, who challenged the government’s directive requiring directors who had spent eight years in office to retire.

The claimant argued that as an Education Officer, she qualified as a teacher under the Harmonized Retirement Age for Teachers in Nigeria Act, 2022, which guarantees compulsory retirement only at the age of 65 or after 40 years of pensionable service.

She contended that the February 2026 circulars issued by the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation and the Minister of Education violated the provisions of the Act by compelling her and other affected education directors to retire before reaching the statutory retirement age.

Delivering judgment, Justice O.Y. Anuwe agreed with the claimant, holding that the Harmonized Retirement Age for Teachers in Nigeria Act overrides any conflicting provisions of the Public Service Rules relating to retirement.

The judge ruled that Section 3 of the Act expressly exempts teachers from any Public Service Rule requiring retirement before the statutory age of 65 years or 40 years of pensionable service.

According to the court, the eight-year tenure policy contained in Rule 020909 of the Public Service Rules can no longer be applied to teachers and education officers, even where they occupy the position of director.

“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 held.

The court added that serving as a director for eight years “is not a retirement condition for teachers any longer.”

Justice Anuwe also relied on the statutory definition of “teacher” under the Harmonized Retirement Age for Teachers in Nigeria Act, 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 the Teachers’ Retirement Age Act superseded the eight-year tenure policy in respect of education officers and teachers, making it inconsistent for the government to later argue otherwise.

Consequently, the court 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 an order of 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 Harmonized Retirement Age for Teachers in Nigeria Act.

The court affirmed that teachers, including education officers serving as directors, are entitled to remain in service until they attain 65 years of age or complete 40 years of pensionable service.
Each party was ordered to bear its own costs.

The judgment is expected to have far-reaching implications for education officers occupying director-level positions across the Federal Ministry of Education and other education-related government agencies, effectively shielding them from compulsory retirement under the eight-year tenure policy while they remain beneficiaries of the Teachers’ Retirement Age Act.