The National Industrial Court sitting in Asaba has ruled in favour of 74 academic and non-academic staff of Delta State Polytechnic, Ogwashi-Uku whose appointments were abruptly terminated.
The termination was on the orders of the immediate-past Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, shortly after he assumed office in 2015.
Barely one month after assumption of office, Okowa ordered the retrenchment of the affected staff citing “irregular procedure in their employment” by his predecessor, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan.
Aside the sack of the Ogwashi-Uku Polytechnic workers, hundreds of employees in the State Civil Service also suffered a similar fate, as a good number of them were laid off for similar “irregular procedure” as Okowa claimed they were hurriedly engaged during the twilight of Uduaghan’s second tenure.
The Court presided over by Justice Opeloye Ogunbowale described their mass sack as “illegal, unlawful and maliciously done”.
He, therefore, declared the action null and void and further ordered the payment of all arrears of salaries and entitlements accrued to them since July 2015
In addition, the sum of N200,000 was awarded as damages against the Delta State Government.
It took the intervention of the office of the then Special Adviser on Labour Matter, headed by Comrade Mike Okeme and former Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress, (NLC), Delta State Council to have about 450 reinstated while others were left to suffer their fate.
