The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT has directed the immediate suspension of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) Mandate Secretary for Education, Danlami Hayyo, over the directive on school closure in FCT on or before November 28.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, Lere Olayinka, Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and Social Media to the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, said no decision was taken by the administration to order an early closure of schools.
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“The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has debunked the report that all Government Schools in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) were mandated to close by November 28, 2025, saying that “no such decision was taken at any level of the administration,” Olayinka said.
In a memo issued by the Director of School Services, FCT secondary education board, Aishatu Sani Alhassan, principals and heads of schools the FCT senior secondary schools were instructed to end all academic activities immediately and ensure students are dismissed “in an orderly and safe manner,” on or before Friday, November 28, citing urgent security concerns.
“The Acting Head of Service, Mrs Nancy Sabanti Nathan, has also been mandated to discipline the Director, School Services, Mrs Aishatu Sani Alhassan, in accordance with the civil service rules,” he added.
The FCT Administration urged parents, students, and school authorities to dismiss the directive, stressing that the approved academic calendar remained unchanged.
The FCTA also assured residents of the FCT, especially students of adequate security, adding that the Minister had directed the resumption of Operation Sweep and other security initiatives in the nation’s capital.
The clarification comes at a time when security concerns in some states have led to schools closure.
Plateau, Katsina, Niger, Taraba and Bauchi have directed the immediate closure of all basic schools in the state, citing urgent need for preventive action against abduction of schoolchildren..
Recall that on November 17, 2025, armed men breached the fence of Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School in Maga, Kebbi State, killed the vice principal, and abducted 25 schoolgirls, a chilling re-enactment of the Chibok, Dapchi, and other mass abduction of young girls in Nigeria.
A teacher was killed while trying to protect the girls during the attack, and a security guard later died in the hospital from gunshot wounds.
Gunmen stormed St. Mary’s Papiri Private Catholic Secondary School in the Papiri community of Agwara Local Government Area, Niger State and abducted scores of students and teachers, in the early hours of Friday, November 21.
Local sources said the gunmen arrived at the school between 3 and 4 a.m. in large numbers, riding on over 60 motorcycles and accompanied by a van, and shot the school’s gatekeeper, leaving him with serious injuries.