The National Industrial Court today nullified the federal government’s policy requiring education directors to retire after eight years in office, ruling that teachers and education officers are entitled to remain in service until they attain the age of 65 or complete 40 years of pensionable service, whichever comes first.
Justice Olufunke Anuwe held that circulars issued by the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation and the Federal Ministry of Education enforcing the eight-year tenure rule were inconsistent with the Harmonised Retirement Age for Teachers in Nigeria Act, 2022.
The court declared that the circulars could not lawfully apply to teachers and education officers, who are protected by the 2022 Act, reports The Guardian.
“The eight-year tenure as a director is not a retirement condition for teachers any longer,” Anuwe ruled.
The suit was brought by Rakiya Iliyasu, a Grade Level 17 director in the University Education Department of the Federal Ministry of Education, who challenged directives requiring directors who had spent eight years in office to retire.
Iliyasu argued that, as an education officer, she qualified as a teacher under the Harmonised Retirement Age for Teachers in Nigeria Act, which provides for compulsory retirement only upon attaining 65 years of age or completing 40 years of pensionable service.
The judge agreed, holding that Section 3 of the Act exempts teachers from any Public Service Rule requiring retirement before the statutory age or years of service. The court also found that the Act’s definition of a teacher expressly includes education officers, placing the claimant within the category protected by the legislation.
Justice Anuwe further observed that the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation had, in a 2025 correspondence, acknowledged that education officers covered by the Act were exempt from the eight-year retirement policy, making the government’s subsequent directives inconsistent with its earlier position.
The court consequently declared illegal, null and void the February 10, 2026 circular issued by the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, along with the February 24 and February 26, 2026 circulars issued by the Federal Ministry of Education, insofar as they applied to teachers and education officers.
It also set aside the circulars and granted a perpetual injunction restraining the Federal Government and the Ministry of Education from implementing the eight-year mandatory retirement policy against teachers and education officers in a manner inconsistent with the Harmonised Retirement Age for Teachers in Nigeria Act, 2022.
The disputed policy arose after the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation and the Federal Ministry of Education directed in February 2026 that directors who had spent eight years in office should retire in line with Rule 020909 of the Public Service Rules.
“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.
Each party was ordered to bear its own costs.
