Imagine passing every requirement for promotion, yet remaining on the same rank simply because there is no vacancy.
That is the reality teachers in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) say they have been forced to live with, prompting members of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), FCT Wing, to disrupt the 2025 promotion examination on Monday.
The protest, held at the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) headquarters in Abuja, temporarily halted the promotion examination for FCT teachers, as union members demanded the removal of vacancy as a condition for career advancement.
Leading the protest, the FCT NUT Chairman, Abdullahi Shafas, argued that teachers should be promoted based on merit and successful performance in promotion examinations rather than the availability of vacant positions.
According to him, applying the vacancy policy to teachers is unfair because they are not pool staff and are deployed to schools based on educational needs.
“The application of vacancy-based promotion for teachers is unjust and detrimental to the teaching profession,” Shafas said.
He warned that making vacancies a requirement for promotion would stagnate teachers’ careers, reduce morale and further weaken the education sector.
Shafas also noted that many teachers continue to work under difficult conditions, including in communities affected by insecurity, while earning modest salaries.
“Some teachers still earn between ₦50,000 and ₦60,000 monthly. If a teacher passes the promotion examination, he or she should be promoted,” he said.
He added that the prolonged delay in resolving the issue forced teachers to leave their classrooms to press for what they described as their legitimate rights, with pupils ultimately bearing the consequences.
The union also called for the establishment of a Teachers Service Commission in the FCT, arguing that teachers should not be subjected to the same promotion policies as core civil servants.
The union’s Secretary, Margaret Jethro, revealed that although 401 deputy directors passed the 2023 promotion examination, only 20 were promoted because of the vacancy requirement.
She insisted that teachers who passed the 2023 and 2024 promotion examinations should be promoted before the union would allow the 2025 exercise to continue.
Responding, the Chairman of the FCT Civil Service Commission, Emeka Ezeh, maintained that promotions across the FCT Civil Service are guided by established rules and that vacancies remain a necessary requirement because of financial and establishment implications.
He dismissed the union’s demand, insisting that the commission was only implementing existing promotion guidelines.
Credit: NAN
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