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The President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio on Tuesday declared open the National Assembly Open Week at the House of Representatives Chamber in Abuja.

The Open Week event serves as a platform to demonstrate the legislature’s commitment to transparency, strengthen public trust and engage stakeholders in the 10th Assembly’s legislative journey.

In his keynote address delivered to declare the weeklong event open Akpabio underscored the essence of the Open Week: “We are assembled today for something far greater than either Chamber. Parliament belongs not to those elected to sit within it, but to the millions whose hopes and votes brought it into existence.

“Parliament was never built to keep the people out. It was built to bring them in, for democracy flourishes only in the confidence of an informed and engaged citizenry.

“This Open Week invites Nigerians to look beyond the headlines and the soundbites, to see Parliament as the meeting point between the aspirations of the people and the responsibilities of government.

“For this is not merely a matter of public education; it is a matter of democratic necessity. History teaches us that great nations are sustained not merely by strong executives or independent judiciaries, but by Parliaments where differing opinions are heard, competing interests are reconciled, and every citizen ultimately finds constitutional expression.

“Openness therefore means more than allowing citizens to observe proceedings. It means assuring every Nigerian that no community is too remote, no voice too quiet, and no corner of this Republic too insignificant to deserve representation,” he said.

Akpabio invited Nigerians to engage the Parliament to make the institution stronger. “That is why this Open Week is so important. We invite Nigerians not merely to observe us, but to engage with us; not merely to applaud where they agree, but to challenge us where they believe we can do better. A Parliament that listens becomes wiser. A democracy that listens becomes stronger.”

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas said the Open Week Initiative is built on the conviction that an open, listening parliament is essential for earning public trust and strengthening public institutions.

The three-day event will feature several high-level, people-centered engagements designed to bridge the gap between citizens, the private sector, and policy makers.

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The Kano State Police Command has arrested a 28-year-old suspected bandit and recovered an AK-47 magazine, 109 rounds of live ammunition, suspected military uniforms and other incriminating items during an operation in Bichi Local Government Area of the state.

In a statement by the Police Public Relations Officer, CSP Abdullahi Haruna Kiyawa, the arrest was made by operatives of the Bichi Divisional Police Headquarters following credible intelligence provided by a member of the public regarding a man allegedly wearing a suspected military uniform at Rimaye Village in Bichi LGA.

According to the statement, the police team, working in collaboration with members of the Rimawa Community, intercepted the suspect, identified as Mohammed Isah Haruna of Dan Dinshe Yamma Quarters in Dala Local Government Area.

A search of his bag led to the recovery of one AK-47 magazine loaded with 30 rounds of live ammunition, an additional 79 rounds of AK-47 ammunition, two sets of suspected military uniforms, three military caps, a suspected fake military identity card, personal identification documents, four ATM cards and a pair of desert boots.

The command said the suspect confessed during interrogation that he was in the area to deliver the recovered items to bandits operating in nearby forests. It added that the suspect is currently in police custody while investigations have commenced to apprehend other members of the criminal network before the case is charged to court.

The Commissioner of Police in Kano State, CP Ibrahim Adamu Bakori, commended the vigilance of the Rimawa Community for promptly alerting the police, describing the arrest as another demonstration of the importance of community participation in combating crime.

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The National Industrial Court of Nigeria has voided the Federal Government’s policy requiring education directors to retire after spending eight years in office, ruling that teachers and education officers who become directors are entitled to remain in service until they attain 65 years of age or complete 40 years of pensionable service.

Delivering judgment in Abuja on July 10, 2026, Justice O. Y. Anuwe nullified circulars issued by the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation and the Federal Ministry of Education seeking to enforce the eight-year tenure rule against teachers and education officers serving as directors.

According to the CTC obtained by our correspondent on Tuesday, the court held that the circulars were inconsistent with the provisions of the Harmonised Retirement Age for Teachers in Nigeria Act, 2022, and were therefore invalid to the extent that they applied to teachers and education officers.

“A teacher or education officer, whether he or she got to the post of director or not, is entitled to retire from service on attaining 65 years of age or 40 years of service,” Justice Anuwe held.

The judge added that serving as a director for eight years “is not a retirement condition for teachers any longer.”

The suit, marked NICN/ABJ/79/2025, was instituted by Mrs Rakiya Gambo Iliyasu, a Grade Level 17 director in the University Education Department of the Federal Ministry of Education, who challenged directives requiring directors who had spent eight years in office to retire.

Iliyasu argued that as an education officer, she qualified as a teacher under the Harmonised Retirement Age for Teachers in Nigeria Act, 2022, which guarantees compulsory retirement only at the age of 65 years or after 40 years of pensionable service.

She contended that the February 2026 circulars issued by the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation and the Federal Ministry of Education unlawfully sought to compel her and other education directors to retire before reaching the statutory retirement age.

Agreeing with the claimant, Justice Anuwe held that Section 3 of the Teachers’ Retirement Age Act expressly exempts teachers from any Public Service Rule requiring retirement before the age of 65 years or 40 years of pensionable service.

The judge also relied on the Act’s definition of a teacher, which expressly includes education officers, holding that the claimant fell squarely within the category of officers protected by the law.

The court further observed that the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation had, in an earlier 2025 correspondence, acknowledged that education officers covered by the Act were exempt from the eight-year tenure policy, making the government’s subsequent issuance of retirement directives inconsistent with its earlier position.

Consequently, the court declared the February 10, 2026, circular issued by the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation and the February 24 and February 26, 2026, circulars issued by the Federal Ministry of Education illegal, null and void insofar as they applied to teachers and education officers.

Justice Anuwe also set aside the three circulars and granted a perpetual injunction restraining the Federal Government and the Ministry of Education from implementing the eight-year tenure policy against teachers and education officers in a manner inconsistent with the Harmonised Retirement Age for Teachers in Nigeria Act.

Each party was ordered to bear its own costs.

The dispute arose after the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation and the Federal Ministry of Education issued circulars in February 2026 directing that directors who had spent eight years in office should retire in line with Rule 020909 of the Public Service Rules.

The directives affected several directors in the Federal Ministry of Education who are career education officers, despite the enactment of the Harmonised Retirement Age for Teachers in Nigeria Act, 2022, which extended the retirement age of teachers in public educational institutions to 65 years or 40 years of pensionable service.

The 2022 Act was signed into law to address the shortage of experienced teachers, improve retention of skilled education personnel and strengthen the quality of teaching and learning in Nigeria.

It also broadened the definition of teachers to include education officers, a provision that became central to the legal dispute.

The judgment is expected to have significant implications for director-level education officers across the Federal Ministry of Education and other education-related federal agencies, as it clarifies that the provisions of the Teachers’ Retirement Age Act override the eight-year tenure rule in the Public Service Rules for officers protected under the law.