Teachers Who Become Directors Must Retire at 65, Not After 8 Years

Pat Stevens/

The National Industrial Court has nullified the Federal Government’s policy requiring directors in the education sector to retire after spending eight years in office, ruling that education officers and teachers who become directors are entitled to remain in service until they attain the statutory retirement age of 65 years or complete 40 years of pensionable service.

In a landmark judgment delivered by Justice Olufunke Anuwe, the court declared that the Federal Government’s attempt to enforce the eight-year tenure policy against education directors contravened the Harmonised Retirement Age for Teachers in Nigeria Act, 2022.

The court consequently set aside the relevant circulars issued by the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation and the Federal Ministry of Education, describing them as illegal and unenforceable insofar as they applied to teachers and education officers.

Justice Anuwe held that the eight-year tenure rule could no longer serve as a retirement condition for teachers covered by the 2022 Act.

“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,” the judge ruled.

She added: “Serving as a Director for eight years is not a retirement condition for teachers any longer.”

The case was instituted by Rakiya Iliyasu, a Grade Level 17 Director in the University Education Department of the Federal Ministry of Education, who challenged directives compelling directors who had spent eight years in office to proceed on retirement.

Iliyasu argued that, as an Education Officer, she fell within the definition of a teacher under the Harmonised Retirement Age for Teachers in Nigeria Act, 2022, which provides that teachers can only retire at the age of 65 or after completing 40 years of pensionable service.

She contended that circulars issued on 10, 24 and 26 February 2026 by the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation and the Federal Ministry of Education unlawfully sought to retire her and other education directors before they reached the retirement age prescribed by law.

Agreeing with her submissions, Justice Anuwe held that Section 3 of the Act expressly exempts teachers from any provision of the Public Service Rules requiring retirement before attaining 65 years of age or completing 40 years of service.

The judge further noted that the Act’s definition of a teacher expressly includes Education Officers, making the claimant and others in her category beneficiaries of the statutory retirement protection.

In another significant finding, the court observed that the Office of the Head of the Civil Service had itself acknowledged in a 2025 correspondence that education officers covered by the Act were exempt from the eight-year tenure policy.

Justice Anuwe said the government’s subsequent decision to issue retirement directives was inconsistent with its earlier position.

Consequently, the court declared the 10 February 2026 circular issued by the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, as well as the 24 and 26 February 2026 circulars issued by the Federal Ministry of Education, illegal, null and void to the extent that they applied to teachers and education officers.

The court also granted a perpetual injunction restraining the Federal Government and the Ministry of Education from enforcing the eight-year tenure policy against teachers and education officers in a manner inconsistent with the Harmonised Retirement Age for Teachers in Nigeria Act, 2022.

Justice Anuwe ordered each party to bear its own legal costs.

The judgment settles a contentious dispute that followed the Federal Government’s decision earlier this year to direct directors who had spent eight years in office to retire under Rule 020909 of the Public Service Rules, a policy that affected several career education officers in the Federal Ministry of Education despite the protections provided by the 2022 retirement law.