The National Industrial Court sitting in Abuja, on Monday ordered the management of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria to pay N2.6 billion to 110 staff whose appointments were illegally terminated in 1996.
Justice Peter Lifu, in a ruling, ordered the university to reinstate all the 110 staff with immediate effect as bonafide staff of the institution.
The case was filed by the disengaged staff against the university in 2013 to challenge the alleged illegal termination of their appointments by the university authority.
The petitioners, who are both academic and non-academic staff of the university, averred that they have variously served the institution for over 20 years without blemish before the unlawful termination.
They joined the Minister of Education, the Attorney General of the Federation and the Minister of Justice as defendants in the suit, Nation reports.
Justice Lifu said in his judgement: “The disengaged staff of the Ahmadu Bello University Zaria should be paid the sum of (N2, 585,130,678.21) as their entitlements from the date of disengagement till June 2016,”
“The purported termination was illegal, null, void and of no effect whatsoever.”
He further instructed that the university should obey all the recommendations of the 2004 and 2010 Presidential Visitation panel of the university and ordered it to take the recommendations as binding on it.
Counsel to the university, Mr Aliemeke Ewere, refused to react to the court’s judgment.
While Counsel to the claimants, Mr Femi Adedeji, expressed fulfillment with the court’s judgment.
“The judgment is very fair; they deserve their entitlements,” he added.
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