RETRENCHMENT: Court orders NIS to pay ex-staff N9.7m salary arrears, N2.25m damages after 20yrs

The National Industrial Court (NIC) in Abuja on Wednesday ordered the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), to pay an ex-staff, Oguntoyinbo Made N9.7 million in salary arrears twenty years after he was dismissed.

The salary as ordered by the court, was for July 1, 1999 to Aug.31, 2014.

Made who was employed by the Service on Nov. 1, 1993 as an Inspector of Immigration on Conpass 07 was laid off in April 1999 but was later absorbed into the service in 2003 but had been denied promotion.

An order by the same court in 2014 had compelled the defendant to recognise the claimant as its staff.

Following the directive of the court, the claimant was again reabsorbed, but the NIS never paid the claimant’s salary arrears from July, 1999 to Aug.31, 2014, as recommended by its legal department.

Joined in the suit as a co-defendant were Civil Defence, Fire, Immigration and Prison Services Board and the Comptroller General of NIS.

Delivering judgment, Justice Rakiya Haastrup held that the bone of contention was that the claimant was denied promotion several times by the defendant and when he was eventually allowed to participate in 2015, his result was never released.

Haastrup added that an employee as claimant in this case, upon reinstatement was entitled to be paid all his arrears of salary.

She ruled ” the claimant has proved his entitlement to the sum claimed, as computed by the defendant in Exhibit CWM8, totaling the sum of N9.705 million.

Read also: EX-GOV JANG’S N6.3bn GRAFT CASE: Court orders trial-within-trial

“I am of the view that the claimant has been able to prove his case, I hold therefore that the defendant is liable to pay the claimant the aforementioned sum.

Haastrup further ordered that the defendant should immediately release the claimant’s result in the 2015 promotion exercises and align the claimant’s rank to that of Comptroller of Immigration ( CIS), as his contemporaries who joined the service the same time with the claimant.

The judge in addition ordered the defendant to pay the claimant the sum of N2million as general damages and awarded the sum of N250,000 to the claimant, as cost of prosecuting the suit.

She gave the defendant up to 60 days to comply with the judgement while failure would attract 21 per cent interest on the judgment sums.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now