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| Yahaya Bello. Kogi State Governor. |
The
National Industrial Court, on Friday in Abuja, ordered the reinstatement of 170
workers of Kogi State government.
The
claimants had joined the state governor, Yahaya Bello and Attorney-General as
co-respondents in their suit and Justice Edith Agbakoba held that provisions of
the law guiding and regulating the termination of employment in the civil
service were not complied with in the dismissal of the claimants.
Ms
Agbakoba also said: “The employment of the claimants are statutory in nature
and can only be terminated in accordance with the law which was not followed in
this case.’’ therefore, ordered that the claimants be reinstated to their
various positions.
She
also awarded N500, 000 as cost of the suit to be paid by the Kogi government.
The
judge said 30 days from the day of the judgment, failure to pay the fine would
attract a 10 per cent interest rate annually.
The
claimants from different ministries had instituted the suit in 2013 seeking a
declaration that their employment with the government was valid and still
subsisting. They also sought an order of the court directing the government to
pay their outstanding salaries, allowances and benefits from May 2009 when
their employment was terminated.
The
claimant’s counsel, Shuaibu Aruwa, had earlier told the court that his clients’
employment was purportedly terminated in 2009 during the administration Gov.
Ibrahim Wada.
Mr.
Aruwa said his clients were wrongfully dismissed without due process after a
screening exercise carried out by a private firm on behalf of the government,
saying that besides his clients’ request for reinstatement, they were also
seeking an order directing the defendants to pay the N100 million as damages
and N10 million as cost of the suit.
The
defense counsel, Philip Abalaka, in his submission, said the claimants were
ghost workers that did not do proper documentation during the screening
exercise.
(NAN)
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