Court Voids FG’s Eight-Year Tenure Policy for Education Directors, Affirms Retirement At 65 or After 40 Years of Service

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, holding 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 on July 10, 2026, in Abuja, 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 were therefore invalid to the extent that they applied to teachers and education officers.

The suit, marked NICN/ABJ/79/2025, was filed by Rakiya Gambo Iliyasu, a Grade Level 17 Director in the University Education Department of the Federal Ministry of Education. She challenged the government’s directive 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 Harmonized Retirement Age for Teachers in Nigeria Act, 2022, which provides that teachers can only be compulsorily retired at the age of 65 or after completing 40 years of pensionable service.

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

In his judgment, Justice 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 on retirement.
The judge ruled that Section 3 of the Act expressly exempts teachers from any Public Service Rule requiring retirement before the statutory retirement 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 noted that the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation had, in a 2025 correspondence, acknowledged that the Teachers’ Retirement Age Act superseded the eight-year tenure policy for education officers and teachers, making it inconsistent for the government to subsequently argue otherwise.

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

The court also set aside the three circulars and granted a perpetual injunction restraining the Federal Government and the Federal 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.

Justice Anuwe 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 significant 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.