The Court of Appeal sitting in Port Harcourt has delivered a landmark judgment in favour of teachers of Demonstration Secondary School, Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, ordering the Rivers State Government to pay all outstanding salaries owed to the affected staff from February 2016 until the judgment is fully complied with.
The three-member panel of justices also upheld an earlier decision of the National Industrial Court delivered in 2018, which declared the stoppage of the teachers’ salaries unlawful.
The dispute began in 2016 after the then Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, announced that salaries of the affected staff should be discontinued.
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Following the directive, management of Ignatius Ajuru University of Education stopped the payment of salaries to about 97 teachers attached to the Demonstration Secondary School.
Despite repeated appeals by the affected workers, the management declined to reverse the decision, forcing the teachers to approach the court for redress.
The National Industrial Court had, in 2018, ruled that the stoppage of salaries was unlawful and affirmed that the affected teachers remained employees of the institution.
However, the court declined to order immediate payment of the outstanding salaries, citing differences in salary structures and allowances among the claimants, which it held amounted to special damages.
Dissatisfied with parts of the judgment, the Rivers State Government appealed the decision at the Court of Appeal in 2018.
The affected teachers also filed a cross-appeal challenging the refusal of the lower court to compel payment of their accumulated salaries.
Counsel to the affected teachers, Emeka Dite Ojoko, explained after the judgement that the Appeal Court, after hearing the appeal, dismissed the case filed by the state government and upheld the cross-appeal filed by the teachers.
The appellate court consequently ordered the Rivers State Government and the management of Ignatius Ajuru University of Education to pay all outstanding salaries owed to the affected staff from February 2016 until full compliance with the judgment.
He said, “The Court of Appeal gave judgment dismissing the appeal against the judgment of the National Industrial Court and also granted our cross-appeal against the refusal of the National Industrial Court to order the government to pay the staff salaries.”
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Ojoko described the ruling as a major victory for the teachers.
He also clarified that the case applies strictly to staff of the Demonstration Secondary School of Ignatius Ajuru University of Education and does not cover teachers from other institutions such as International Secondary School of Rivers State University and Comprehensive Secondary School, Bori, where separate cases on the same matter are being handled by different legal teams.
It is worth noting that the Court of Appeal is the final court for matters arising from the National Industrial Court.