The National Industrial Court sitting in Asaba, Delta State has ruled in favour of 74 academic and non-academic staff of Delta State Polytechnic, Ogwashi-Uku, whose appointments were terminated.
The termination was ordered by the immediate past governor Ifeanyi Okowa after he assumed office in 2015.
Okowa ordered their retrenchment, cited “irregular procedure in their employment” by his predecessor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan.
Aside from the sack of the polytechnic workers, hundreds of civil servants also suffered a similar fate.
The court presided over by Justice Opeloye A. Ogunbowale described their mass sack as “illegal, unlawful and maliciously done”.
He, therefore, declared the action null and void and ordered the payment of all arrears of salaries and entitlements accruing to them since July 2015
In addition, the sum of N200,000 was awarded as damages against the state government.
It took the intervention of the office of the then special Adviser on Labour Matters, headed by Comrade Mike Okeme, former Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Delta State Council, to reinstate about 450, while others were left to lick their wounds.
