By UCHE BIBILARI

The Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Federal Capital Territory Wing, on Monday, protested the inclusion of vacancy as a criterion for promotion of teachers.

The union officials and members stormed the Headquarters of the National Open University, Abuja, venue of the ongoing 2025 promotion examinations for 13,000 FCT Administration workers, to communicate their demands.

The protest disrupted the promotion examination for FCT teachers scheduled for Monday.

Chairman of the union, Mr Abdullahi Shafas, who led the protest, appealed to the Chairman of the FCT Civil Service Commission, Mr Emeka Ezeh to remove the vacancy condition for promotion.

Shafa argued that teachers were not pool staff and as such, deserve merit not vacancy as a condition for promotion.

According to him, vacancy as a condition for promotion will stagnate career progression for teachers in the FCT.

“The application of vacancy-based promotion for teachers is unjust and detrimental to the teaching profession.

“Teachers should be promoted based on merit and successful performance in promotion examinations rather than the availability of vacancies.

“We deserve special consideration because of the unique nature of our work and the difficult conditions under which many of us serve.

“Therefore, teachers should not be subjected to a vacancy system, as they are deployed across schools in urban and rural communities, where many are facing security challenges, including banditry and kidnapping.”

He pointed out that promotion was a key motivation for teachers and warned that stagnating teachers’ career progression would further discourage them and undermine the education sector.

He said that teachers remained among the least and under paid public servants in the country, despite the critical role they played in nation building.

According to him, some teachers in the country still earn between N50,000 and N60,000 as a monthly salary, in contrast to what their counterparts receive in some developed countries.

“How do you survive with such a meagre amount if you are living in the capital city?

“Therefore, if a teacher sits for a promotion examination and passes the examination, he or she should be promoted.”

He urged Ezeh to engage with the union rather than dismissing its concerns, saying “dialogue is necessary to resolving any dispute”.

He explained that prolonged delays in resolving the promotion issue had forced teachers to leave their classrooms to participate in protests, with adverse consequences for pupils.

“Our members are not in the classrooms today because they are demanding what they believe is their legitimate right but those who suffer most are the children,” he said.

Responding to allegations that the protests might be politically motivated, Shafa insisted that the agitation was solely aimed at protecting the welfare and career progression of teachers.

Similarly, the Secretary of the union, Mrs Margaret Jethro, stressed that teachers should not be subjected to the same promotion policy with civil servants and advocated the establishment of a Teachers Service Commission in FCT.

“You cannot use a law being used for a core civil servant who needs office accommodation and an official car for promotion of teachers.

“Teachers only need their classrooms as such, the vacancy policy will not work for teachers,” he said.

Jethro said that in 2023, 401 deputy directors passed the promotion examination but only 20 were promoted.

She reiterated the union’s demand that all the teachers that passed the promotion examination in 2023 and 2024 must be promoted before the union would allow the 2025 examination for teachers.

“The benchmark for promotion was set by the authorities and qualified teachers should not be denied promotion after meeting the requirements,” she said.

Responding, Ezeh explained that promotion for FCT workers, including teachers, was clearly spelt out in the guidelines, adding that the union’s demand appears mischievous.

“The system of government is guided by rules, and the commission is only implementing the guidelines for promotion,” he said.

Ezeh said that no one could be promoted without a vacancy because it had financial and establishment implications. (NAN)

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