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Pupils listen to their teacher at a school in Lagos, Nigeria
Pupils listen to their teacher at a school in Lagos, Nigeria

Nigeria: Teachers’ dismissal sparks strike action in Kaduna

published 30 January 2018 updated 1 March 2018

The Nigeria Union of Teachers and other labour unions in Kaduna State have gone on strike after thousands of teachers had their employment terminated by the state’s government, despite a court order preventing such an action.

The Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) and the Kaduna State government are at loggerheads after 21,780 teachers were dismissed. The state action was motivated by their failure rates in a competency test.

Injunction

However, in December 2017, the Industrial Court granted an interlocutory injunction - a court order restraining the government from dismissing any teacher from work pending the determination of the case. The order was supposedly notified to the Kaduna government before the latter terminated the teachers’ contracts by letter. The case was brought by the NUT, an affiliate of Education International.

The NUT and teachers described the government’s actions as a deliberate attempt to dismiss employees at all cost.

You can read teachers’ reactions in an article published by the Daily Trust here