The National Industrial Court of Nigeria has nullified the Federal Government’s policy requiring education directors to retire after serving eight years in office, ruling that teachers and education officers who rise to the rank of director are entitled to remain in service until they attain the statutory retirement age of 65 years or complete 40 years of pensionable service.
Justice O. Y. Anuwe delivered the judgment in Abuja on July 10, holding 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 were invalid to the extent that they applied to teachers and education officers.
“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, adding that serving as a director for eight years “is not a retirement condition for teachers any longer.”
The suit, marked NICN/ABJ/79/2025, was filed by Mrs. Rakiya Gambo Iliyasu, a Grade Level 17 Director in the University Education Department of the Federal Ministry of Education.
Iliyasu argued that as an education officer, she qualified as a teacher under the Harmonised Retirement Age for Teachers in Nigeria Act, 2022, which guarantees retirement only upon reaching 65 years of age or after completing 40 years of pensionable service.
She challenged the February 2026 circulars issued by the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation and the Federal Ministry of Education, contending that they unlawfully sought to compel her and other education directors to retire before reaching the retirement threshold established by law.
In his judgment, Justice Anuwe agreed that Section 3 of the Act exempts teachers from any provision of the Public Service Rules requiring retirement before the statutory age or years of service.
He further held that the Act’s definition of a teacher expressly includes education officers, bringing the claimant within the category of officers protected by the legislation.
The court also noted that the Office of the Head of the Civil Service had earlier acknowledged in a 2025 correspondence that education officers covered by the Act were exempt from the eight-year tenure policy, making the subsequent retirement directives inconsistent with the government’s own position.
Consequently, the court declared the February 10, 2026 circular issued by the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, as well as the February 24 and February 26, 2026 circulars issued by the Federal Ministry of Education, illegal, null and void insofar as they affected teachers and education officers.
Justice Anuwe further 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 that conflicts with the Harmonised Retirement Age for Teachers in Nigeria Act, 2022. The court directed each party to bear its own costs.
The judgment arose from a dispute triggered by government directives requiring directors who had spent eight years in office to retire in line with Rule 020909 of the Public Service Rules, despite the enactment of the 2022 law extending the retirement age for teachers and education officers.
The ruling is expected to have far-reaching implications for director-level education officers across the Federal Ministry of Education and other federal education agencies, as it affirms that the provisions of the Harmonised Retirement Age for Teachers in Nigeria Act take precedence over the eight-year tenure policy for officers protected under the law.