Court Orders Bayelsa Govt To Compute And Pay Accrued Salaries Of 129 Education Board Staff From 2016
The Presiding Judge, Yenagoa Judicial Division of the National Industrial Court, Hon. Justice Polycarp Haman has declared the stoppage of the salaries and allowances of Ayawari Wisdom and 128 other staff of Bayelsa State Universal Basic Education Board by the Bayelsa State Government, Hon. Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, and Bayelsa State Universal Basic Education Board since January 2016 as illegal, wrongful, null and void.
The Court ordered that Ayawari Wisdom and 128 other staff are entitled to full enhanced salaries, allowances, remunerations, promotions, and perquisites of office in the service of the Bayelsa State Government, and State Universal Basic Education Board.
Justice Polycarp directed the Bayelsa State Government, Hon. Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, and Bayelsa State Universal Basic Education Board to immediately compute and pay over to each of the Ayawari Wisdom and 128 others Staff the accrued salaries, allowances, remunerations and perquisites of their offices from January 2016 till the date of judgment and thereafter until they retire from service.
From facts, the Claimants- had submitted that after their employment and confirmation of same by the Bayelsa State Government through the Bayelsa State Universal Basic Education Board, they regularly received their entitlements until January 2016 when their salaries, allowances, remunerations, perquisites of office were abruptly stopped without any explanations or excuses by the Bayelsa State Government, and 2 others.
Ayawari Wisdom and 128 other staff pleaded further that they were not queried nor their services formally dispensed with, neither were they dismissed or suspended from their employment and yet the Bayelsa State Government and State Universal Basic Education Board stopped their salaries, remunerations, allowances and perquisites of office.
In defence, the Defendants-Bayelsa State Government, Hon. Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, and Bayelsa State Universal Basic Education Board maintained that the Claimants’ employment were terminated by their respective Local Government Education Authorities after a verification exercise conducted at the level of the Bayelsa State Government where it was discovered that the various appointment letters issued to Ayawari Wisdom and 128 others by their various Local Government Education Authorities were fraudulently issued.
The Court was urged to hold that Ayawari Wisdom and 128 others are not employees of the Bayelsa State Government because no employment can be inferred, and there is no evidence before this court to show that Ayawari Wisdom and 128 others at any point received any payments from the Bayelsa State Government and State Universal Basic Education Board.
The Learned Counsel argued that the proper parties in the suit are not the Defendants herein but the various Local Government Areas and their Universal Basic Education Authorities, that Ayawari Wisdom and 128 others failed to adduce evidence to establish that they were employed or had their employments terminated by the defendants.
In opposition, learned counsel argued that if Ayawari Wisdom and 128 others’ employments did not follow due process of the recruitment of staff in Bayelsa State, the conduct of the Defendants in the payment of the salaries of Ayawari Wisdom and 128 others, the confirmation of their appointments and subsequent promotions are deemed to have regularized the so-called improper employment of the Claimants. By the very positive acts of the Defendants, any irregularity purported to have been occasioned in the employment of Ayawari Wisdom and 128 others is deemed to have been regularized and urged the Court to grant the reliefs sought.
In a well-considered judgment, the Presiding Judge, Justice Polycarp Hamman, held that claimants were initially employed by their various Local Government Education Authorities, their appointments were confirmed by the Bayelsa State Universal Basic Education Board, and their Staff Verification Slips were issued to them by the Bayelsa State Government.
The Court affirmed that the claimants have established that they were employees of the defendants, particularly the Bayelsa State Government, and State Universal Basic Education Board, and parts of the functions of the Bayelsa State Universal Basic Education Board as provided in the Bayelsa State Universal Basic Education Board Law are the management of primary schools, recruitment, appointment, posting, promotion, discipline and transfer of staff on Salary Grade Level 07 and above amongst others.
Justice Polycarp stated that the Bayelsa State Government, and State Universal Basic Education Board who alleged that the employment letters issued to the claimants were fraudulently obtained did not tender any document to substantiate the weighty allegation against the claimants, and no single document was before the Court to show that Ayawari Wisdom and 128 others fraudulently obtained their employment letters.
Justice Polycarp reiterates that the employer, being a creature of statute, must act within and under the powers conferred by the statute, that the sudden stoppage of Ayawari Wisdom and 128 others’ salaries by the Bayelsa State Government, and State Universal Basic Education Board without any prior disciplinary measures did not follow due process.
