NUT Strike: NANS, FCT ASUSS Urge Dialogue to Safeguard Students’ Learning

By Stanley Onyekwere

Secondary school teachers in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have rejected the ongoing strike declared by the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), choosing instead to remain in their classrooms to safeguard students’ learning and ensure that critical career promotion examinations proceed uninterrupted.

The Academic Staff Union of Secondary Schools (ASUSS), FCT Chapter, alongside the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) Joint Campus Council, has officially distanced itself from the industrial action, describing it as illegal, ill-timed and disruptive to the academic calendar.

ASUSS FCT Chairman, Julius Ogundiran, confirmed during a stakeholder session with local youth and civil society groups that secondary school teachers across the territory were actively teaching and would not participate in the boycott.

“ASUSS is not on strike. We have disassociated ourselves from the NUT strike action, and all secondary school teachers in the FCT are in their classrooms teaching,” Ogundiran stated.

He stressed that union disputes should not jeopardise students’ academic futures or stall the upcoming 2026 Computer-Based Test (CBT) promotion examinations.

The union noted that the FCT Minister had already demonstrated goodwill by allowing the 2025 promotion set to sit for the 2026 CBT exercise alongside the current set following previous disruptions.

ASUSS argued that proceeding with a strike at this time would undermine teachers’ career progression and penalise students.

Highlighting ASUSS’s independence as an affiliate of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), separate from the NLC-aligned NUT, ASUSS Public Relations Officer, Comrade Pastor Ibiam Cyril Johnson, said the union was never consulted before the action was declared.

He urged the NUT leadership to abandon confrontation and pursue a resolution through the FCT Administration (FCTA) and the FCT Civil Service Commission.

Student leaders also echoed the call for an immediate end to the standoff.

The NANS JCC FCT Chapter Secretary-General, Comrade Abdulkarim Abba Muhammad, stressed that students and their families bear the financial and educational burden of school closures.

Muhammad also raised concerns about political neutrality, calling on the FCT NLC Chairman to address reports concerning his candidacy under the African Democratic Congress (ADC) to ensure that trade union grievances are not exploited for political purposes.

Both ASUSS and NANS reaffirmed that while teachers’ welfare remains paramount, constructive round-table negotiations—not classroom abandonment—are the only viable path forward for education in the nation’s capital.